On May 31, Governor Kasich signed HB 299, which makes revisions to the Autism Scholarship program. The bill makes two changes to the program.
Autism scholarship
State lawmakers have finalized an expedited process to hear complaints from citizens alleging they were wrongfully denied access to public records. The bill, Senate Bill (SB) 321, received unanimous votes in the Ohio House and Senate and is awaiting signature by the Governor.
Last Friday, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance on their interpretation of the rights of and protections for transgender students under Title IX.
On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court held in the case White v. King that Ohio’s Open Meetings Act prohibits any private prearranged discussion of public business by a majority of the members of a public body regardless of whether the discussion occurs face to face, telephonically, by video conference, or electronically by email, text, tweet or other form of communication.
The Fourth Circuit court of appeals recently ruled in G.G. v. Gloucester Cty. School Bd., that courts must give deference to the U.S. Department of Education’s recent guidance that public schools must treat a transgender student in conformity with the student’s gender identity.
The Ohio Ethics Law requires certain elected officials and public employees to annually file a financial disclosure statement with the Ohio Ethics Commission (OEC). A financial disclosure statement requires a filer to disclose information regarding their personal financial interests and fiduciary relationships for the preceding calendar year.
OSBA’s Legal Division has recently posted updates to three of its fact sheets:
The full list of fact sheets that OSBA has published can be accessed here.
The Legal Division, in conjunction with OSBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, has published a new resource page on diverse learners. The page provides some resource links that provide background, contextual information, and guidance around certain groups of students.
You can visit the resource page here: http://www.ohioschoolboards.org/diverse-student-learners.
There are some important dates coming up in relation to the College Credit Plus (CCP) program for the 2016-17 school year. CCP allows students in grades 7-12 to enroll at any public college/university and any participating nonpublic college/university on a full- or part-time basis and complete nonsectarian, nonremedial courses for transcripted high school and/or college credit.
The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a public entity in a construction contract dispute where OSBA’s Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) provided amicus support. The decision is a good one for school districts and other public entities, especially those interested in putting in place penalties for a construction company’s failure to complete work in a timely manner.
