The Legal Ledger

Earlier today, a unanimous United States Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools.  The Court overturned the lower courts’ decisions and remanded the case to the appeals court to determine whether the plaintiffs’ suit is about a denial of a FAPE rather than discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.   

The Fry case involved E.F., a student with cerebral palsy, and her assistance dog, Wonder.  When E.F. was a kindergartner, her parents, Stacy and…

The Ohio Joint Study Committee on Drug Use Prevention Education was created last August by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger and former Senate President Keith Faber with the goal of studying drug use prevention education in Ohio schools.

As a result of that charge, on Feb. 10, the Ohio Attorney General (OAG) released the…

Governor Kasich’s biennial budget for FY 2018-19 was introduced on Wednesday as House Bill 49.  The full text—all 3512 pages of it—is available here. 

There has already been a lot of discussion about the provisions in the bill that are of interest to school districts and educational service centers.  But for those who would like to see the specific proposed language on some key topics, here are the line numbers in the current bill: 

Earlier this week, the National School Boards Association issued a publication entitled “Data Security for Schools: A Legal and Policy Guide for School Boards.”  The guide offers school boards information to help them ensure that their districts have sound policies and practices in place to protect all the data created, collected and stored as part of school operations and to respond appropriately in the event of a data breach.

The guide addresses the…

OSBA’s legal assistance fund (LAF) supports school districts that are defending legal challenges with the potential to affect public schools statewide. Earlier this month, the LAF board of trustees voted to approve an amicus brief in support of the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC) in the case Delaware Joint Vocational School District v. Testa.

The case involves a Renewal Levy passed in November 2015 by DACC. Ninety-nine percent of DACC’s territory is in Delaware County, while less than 1% falls in Franklin, Marion, Morrow and Union Counties combined (DACC Territory). Like DACC,…

Yesterday, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released its draft overview of Ohio’s State Plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 

ODE developed the draft overview after a year of meetings and outreach to Ohio’s educators, parents and community members about the state’s educational system.  According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria, the plan’s major policy points include:

• Establishing stability in the…

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Endrew F v.  Douglas County School District.  The case involves the legal standard the courts will apply when determining whether a school district has provided FAPE as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA). 

The question presented in this case involves IDEA’s provision that federal funds will be provided to states that make FAPE available to every…

There are three instances where boards of education must competitively bid:

1. Boards of education must solicit bids to “build, repair, enlarge, improve or demolish any school building” if the cost of the work is over $25,000.
2. Boards of education must competitively bid any contracts for the purchase of school buses.
3. Boards of education must competitively bid when purchasing food and supplies, including management company services, if the cost is over $150,000.

The legal division often gets questions about whether the competitive bidding threshold…

Three . . . two . . . one . . . Happy New Year!  

Restraint and seclusion reporting

Dec. 16 is the deadline for schools to submit annual reports of student restraint and seclusion incidents to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). Districts are asked to complete an online survey to fulfill their annual reporting obligations set forth under Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 3301-35-15. In an effort to improve statewide reporting accuracy, ODE has created additional guidance documents and sample reporting forms.…