Legal Ledger Categories

Last month, the State Board of Education considered the first application for a pupil activity permit from a felony ex-offender holding a Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE). Created by Senate Bill 337 in 2012, the CQE process allows persons who have a previous felony or misdemeanor conviction to apply to the court in their county of residence to lift collateral sanctions that prohibit an individual from being considered for employment in certain fields, including education.  As of May 20, 2015, just over 300 CQEs have been issued in Ohio. 

Under RC 3307.35(B), a former teacher receiving retirement benefits from the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) may be employed again as a teacher in the public schools. Teachers that choose to work in a public position within the first two months of retirement forfeit their monthly retirement benefits for the months worked. In the past, STRS has held that the amount of compensation paid to the retiree has no impact on whether the teacher loses their retirement benefits.

House Bill 290, which became effective March 23, 2015, amended some of the language found in RC 3313.77 in regards to the “use of school premises for public meetings and entertainment.”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits gender discrimination in any education program or activity that is supported by federal monies.  On April 24, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) reminded schools receiving federal dollars that they must designate at least one employee to coordinate Title IX compliance and released a guidance package relating to Title IX compliance.

Question: What is required in order to opt out of the new career-technical education (CTE) program requirements for 7th & 8th grade students?

Ohio Revised Code Section (RC) 3313.7112 outlines the required care for students with diabetes. Each board of education must ensure that each student enrolled in the district who has diabetes receives the appropriate and needed care for his or her diabetes, in accordance with a signed order from the student’s treating physician.

Diabetes care. Diabetes care includes:

All elected officials or their appropriate designees are required to attend public records training approved by the attorney general (RC 149.43(E)).  The training must be for three hours for each term of office for which the elected official was appointed or elected to the public office (RC 109.43(B)).

Recently, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) published guidance entitled “Clarification on Accessibility and Accommodations for New State Tests.” As noted by ODE, the guidance document provides answers to these questions:

Each board of education is required by law to adopt a “school safety plan” for each building in the district. Recently, the laws have changed regarding the creation and submission of these plans.  Changes to RC 3313.536 became effective last fall, and ODE’s accompanying administrative rule (OAC 3301-5-01) became effective in January.  Changes include:

Name change.  Previously, the law referred to these plans as “school safety plans.”  The new laws change the name of the plans to “emergency management plans.”

It’s that time of year to start gearing up for Capital Conference. Capital Conference will take place November 8-11 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Nominate a speaker or propose a topic online here.