Governor Activity
Governor DeWine signed House Bill (HB) 101, sponsored by Reps. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) and Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Township), which modifies the law regarding village dissolution and makes several education-related budget corrections. The bill will take effect on April 30, 2024. Some of the corrections related to primary and secondary education include: 

  • Clarification of language from the biennial budget bill stating that the new agency for Children and Youth will administer preschool/school age childcare licensing;
  • Fixing a JVSD budget engrossing error to make the minimum state share percentage for joint vocational school districts 10%;
  • Clarifying the Autism Scholarship application process so that students can apply in the first year they are eligible;
  • Clarification that the State Board of Education is responsible for RAPBACK and criminal record checks, and other corrective changes for the implementation of the new Department of Education and Workforce;
  • Clarification that preservice teacher permits are under the State Teachers Retirement System, not the School Employees Retirement System.

Governor DeWine also announced the School Bus Safety Working Group’s recommendations to the public this week. The group came up with 17 recommendations that could impact the work of the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Education and Workforce and the state legislature. A comprehensive report laying out the working group’s recommendations, including how and why they came to the recommendations, can be found here. The working group’s recommendations are as follows:

  1. School districts should identify, share, and encourage bus drivers to participate in professional development opportunities.  
  2. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should work with the Ohio Department of Public Safety to create and offer wellness programming specific to school bus drivers. School districts should develop policies to ensure bus drivers can take advantage of this wellness support.
  3. School districts should develop school bus driver performance review policies and conduct annual performance evaluations.
  4. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should require and provide a curriculum for six hours of annual bus driver training.
  5. The Ohio Department of Public Safety and Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should partner to expand advanced driver training for school bus drivers in Ohio.
  6. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should adopt rules requiring school districts to offer school bus safety orientation to students, parents and guardians at the beginning of each school year.
  7. The Ohio State Highway Patrol should initiate collaboration between state and local law enforcement partners to develop law enforcement training on school bus inspections and the most common safety risks for student passengers.
  8. The Ohio Department of Public Safety should develop educational materials and wide-ranging public service announcements on school bus traffic safety laws and best driving practices.
  9. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should assess whether it is appropriate to increase the minimum number of required training hours for school bus mechanics.  
  10. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should work with the Ohio General Assembly to develop and fund a grant program to help school districts invest in school bus safety features such as, but not limited to, seat belts. The grant program should be needs-based.  
  11. The Ohio Department of Public Safety should work with the Ohio General Assembly to strengthen penalties for drivers who violate traffic laws in school zones and around school buses.
  12. The Ohio Department of Transportation should support cities, townships and villages to assess safety conditions on local roads located in and around school zones.  
  13. School districts should conduct safety audits of their bus routes, bus stops and school pick-up/drop-off sites on school property to reduce safety risks and mitigate the severity of school bus crashes.
  14. School districts should engage school bus drivers in critical incident response planning and include them in realistic, scenario-based critical incident exercises.  
  15. The Ohio State Highway Patrol should hold regular school bus stakeholder meetings to identify and mitigate gaps in critical incident responses to school bus crashes and other bus-related security issues.
  16. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce should expand its post-crash report to collect additional information and publish the data annually to inform future policy decisions and aid in determining school bus driver professional development needs.
  17. School districts should adopt policies that require a thorough evaluation of contracted commercial bus services.

The Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) has the following proposed rules open for public comment:

  • OAC 3301-16-08 State seal of biliteracy;
  • OAC 3301-51-09 Delivery of services;
  • OAC 3301-7-01 Standards for the ethical use of tests;
  • OAC 3301-8-01 Payment of debt charges under the state credit enhancement program;
  • OAC Chapter 3301-13 Proficiency tests;
  • OAC 3301-15-02 Exemptions from state statutory provisions and rules; 
  • OAC 3301-16-04 College and work ready assessment transition; 
  • OAC 3301-17 Reports for Statewide Education Management Information System;
  • OAC 3301-48 Open enrollment programs;
  • OAC 3301-51-15 Operating standards for identifying and serving students who are gifted;
  • OAC 3301-61 Vocational education;
  • OAC 3301-52-01 Appropriate uses of early child education screening and assessment information;
  • OAC 3301-102-08: Standards for measuring sponsor compliance with applicable laws and rules;
  • OAC 3301-101 Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program. 

Click here to view the rules open for public comment.

New Bills Introduced

  • HB 387, sponsored by Reps. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) and Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland), which would dissolve existing academic distress commissions, repeal the law that creates new commissions, and declare an emergency.
     

Federal update
Please click here to read the weekly Federal Advocacy Education Report which includes education related information.

Posted by Scott Palider on 2/2/2024