Governor activity
Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law House Bill (HB) 169. The bill provides state appropriation authority for schools to receive the funding provided by Congress through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those appropriation provisions take immediate effect. Additionally, the bill appropriates the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding and provides funding to establish a minimum per pupil for ESSER fund money in districts that receive little or no funding due to the federal funding formula. DeWine did veto a provision in the bill that would have delayed quality standards for publicly funded child care under the Step Up To Quality program.

DeWine signed into law Senate Bill 166. The bill establishes the student pathways for career success grant program and requires the state to create a program that establishes financial incentives for Ohio businesses to provide work-based learning experiences for students enrolled in career-technical education programs. The bill also does the following:

  • modifies the OhioMeansJobs-Readiness Seal to include a student completing 250 hours of a work-based learning experience that is either approved by a business advisory council or aligned to the career-technical pathway approved by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) in which the student is enrolled;
  • replaces a district's or school's enrolled ADM with the sum of enrolled ADM for all districts and schools within the career-technical planning district as a factor in computing career awareness and exploration funds;
  • permits career-technical schools to use remote or digital learning;
  • requires joint vocational school districts to be included in revenue-sharing agreements from a Community Reinvestment Area.

DeWine also signed into law HB 29. The bill legalizes, regulates and taxes sports gaming. The bill also prohibits betting on any sport or athletic event if a player is under the age of 18. Additionally, the bill requires that 98% of profits be used for K-12 education.

Finally, DeWine signed into law HB 122. The bill establishes and modifies requirements regarding the provision of telehealth services of school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, occupational assistants, behavior analysts and physical therapy assistants, among others.

Ohio Department of Education
ODE’s office of Budget and School Funding has released the FY21 District Profile Report also known as the Cupp report. Click here for a link to the website.

New Board Member 101
Experienced OSBA staff have designed a weekend program full of the key information necessary to give new board members the confidence and tools to flatten the learning curve. Board Member 101 will include sessions on governance, collaboration, legal parameters, parliamentary procedure, meeting management, policy management, legislative understanding, district advocacy and school financing. The program is designed to allow new board members to ask questions, network with others and discover the many resources OSBA offers to district members. The New Board Member 101 programs are scheduled for January 8 and January 22. Click here for additional information and also to register.

Posted by Nicole Piscitani on 12/23/2021