The Legal Ledger

As reported in an August Legal Ledger blog post, Ohio’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget bill included changes to district obligations to students in reading instruction. 

Welcome to 2024! As we kick off a new year, please remember that OSBA offers many tools and resources to help you organize your board and keep track of approaching legal deadlines, upcoming workshops and seminars, and other important dates.

As we close out calendar year 2023 and embark on a new year, school officials need to be aware of their obligations in the area of school attendance and truancy. Student attendance is critical for positive outcomes, and the law is clear that school officials cannot remain passive when a student is excessively absent from school.

In this Legal Ledger Sidebar, OSBA attorneys Jennifer and John discuss the Ohio Ethics Law restrictions on gifts, entertainment and other things of value. The conversation covers the key aspects of the laws as they apply to school board members and school employees. 

OSBA would like to thank our extern, Joshua Menden, for drafting this week's blog post.

In case you missed it, here are a few updates of importance from this past week:

The start of November at OSBA means one thing:  it’s Capital Conference season, folks! We are just over a week away from welcoming thousands of board members, administrators and other school district professionals to Columbus for our annual Capital Conference. We’re excited to see all of you, and we think the conference will be more valuable than ever for our attendees.

Last Friday, Judge Richard Frye ruled that the state can proceed with the education governance changes laid out in House Bill (HB) 33. 

Yesterday, the Auditor of State (AOS) issued Bulletin 2023-004, providing guidance for school districts related to a new law requiring cash payment options at school events.