ODEW Division of Primary and Secondary Education Deputy announced  

Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) Director Stephen D. Dackin announced Monday his recommendation of Dr. Diane M. Allen to be appointed the first deputy director of the Department’s Division of Primary and Secondary Education. Allen most recently served as superintendent of Marysville EV, leading the district since 2012. Restructured in the fiscal year (FY)24-25 state operating budget, ODEW now encompasses two separate divisions: one centered on primary and secondary education and the other, focused on career-technical education and workforce readiness, led by Deputy Director Jeremy Varner. The director’s recommendation must be confirmed by a vote of the Ohio Senate. Pending that confirmation, Allen is expected to start in July. 

House activity  

The House unanimously passed House Bill (HB) 124, sponsored by Reps. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) and Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township). HB 124 would modify the process for property tax sales-assessment ratio studies. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.  

House Education Committee  

The committee heard sponsor testimony on HB 269 from Reps. Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta) and Jonathan Newman (R-Troy). This House companion bill to Senate Bill (SB) 156 would require school districts to provide character education and “success sequence” instruction. HB 269 differs from the Senate version in a few ways, including that it permits schools to adopt a policy that allows third-party after-school programs on district property to teach success sequence and character education curriculum. 

The committee heard sponsor testimony on  HB 294, sponsored by Reps. Ty D. Matthews (R-Ashville) and Ritter. This bill makes changes to intradistrict open enrollment policies. 

The committee heard sponsor testimony on SB 158, sponsored by Sen. Jane M. Timken (R-Canton). This bill would generally prohibit cell phone use in public schools. 

The committee held its second hearing on HB 187, sponsored by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Eric Synenberg (D-Beachwood). This bill would require, rather than permit, school districts to provide a moment of silence each school day. No witnesses were present to testify.  

The committee held its third hearing on HB 117, sponsored by Reps. Tracy M. Richardson (R-Marysville) and Sean P. Brennan (D-Parma), which would require the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. The committee heard proponent testimony on the bill.  

Senate Finance Committee  

On Tuesday, the committee released their substitute version of  HB 96, the FY2026-27 state operating budget. Education related changes within the substitute bill can be seen here. 

The committee heard public testimony on the substitute bill throughout the rest of the week, including from: 

  • Katie Johnson, OASBO
  • Kristine Blind, treasurer/CFO, London City  
  • Ryan S. Stechschulte, Treasurer/CFO, Toledo Public  
  • Tom Jackson, State Board of Education 
  • Karen Lloyd, State Board of Education 
  • Kristie Reighard, State Board of Education 
  • Teresa Fedor, State Board of Education 
  • Rhonda Johnson, State Board of Education 
  • Delores Gray Ford, State Board of Education 
  • Eric Meredith, superintendent, Pike County CTC 
  • Matt Colvin, superintendent, Coshocton County Career Center 
  • Dr. Todd Phillipson, superintendent, Jefferson County JVSD 
  • Kristy Meyer, board member, Westerville City  
  • Dawn Wallace, superintendent, Adams County Ohio Valley 
  • Scott DiMauro, Ohio Education Association  
  • Heather Sharp, Treasurer/CFO, Lima City 
  • Richard Stensrud, School Employees Retirement System of Ohio 
  • Kevin Duff, OhioExcels 
  • Chad Aldis, Thomas B. Fordham Institute 
  • Jeff Brown, superintendent, Granville EV 
  • Shannon Cox, superintendent, Montgomery County Educational Service Center 
  • Melissa Cropper, Ohio Federation of Teachers  
  • Aaron Hood, State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio 
  • Jaime Shatsman, board member, Willoughby-Eastlake City 

The committee is expected to unveil an omnibus version of HB96 next week, including various changes and tweaks to its version of the state budget. A vote on the Senate floor passing the bill is expected next Wednesday. Please review all OSBA e-alerts to stay up to date on these important Senate actions over the next week.  

House Finance Committee  

The committee heard sponsor testimony on HB 98, from Reps. Nick Santucci (R-Niles) and Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Township). HB 98 would establish the Community Connectors Workforce Program to support connecting students to jobs, internships and career professionals in their communities, and appropriate $8 million to the program.  

Senate Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology Committee  

The committee heard sponsor testimony on SB 203 from Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster). This bill would require political subdivisions to adopt a cybersecurity program. The committee adopted amendment language clarifying that any record that identifies cybersecurity-related software, hardware, goods and services that are being used or considered for procurement by a political subdivision is not subject to disclosure under Ohio Public Records Law. Note that the bill’s language, including the adopted amendment, is a part of the Senate substitute version of HB 96, the biennial budget. 

House Technology and Innovation Committee 

The committee heard sponsor testimony on HB 283 from Reps. Adam Matthews (R-Lebanon) and Haraz N. Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg). This House companion bill to SB 203 would require political subdivisions to adopt a cybersecurity program. The committee also received a briefing from Thomas MacLellan, the director of government affairs and policy at Palo Alto Networks, on the current environment surrounding cybersecurity threats.  

House Judiciary Committee  

The committee held its third hearing on HB 203, sponsored by Reps. Williams and Hall. This bill would increase penalties for vehicular assaults and vehicular homicides that occur in an active school zone, require doubled fines for specified traffic violations in an active school zone and name this act “Aspen Runnels' Law’. No opponent witnesses were present to testify on the bill.  

House Ways and Means Committee  

The committee held its second hearing on HB 309, sponsored by Rep. Thomas. This bill would modify the law governing county budget commissions, property taxation and alternative apportionment formulas for school districts, among other taxing units. The committee adopted a substitute version of the bill and heard proponent testimony.  

The committee held its third hearing on HB 129 from Rep. Thomas. This bill would limit school districts’ ability to reallocate unvoted property tax millage, and include certain property and school district income taxes in the calculation of a school district's effective millage floor. The committee amended the bill to:  

  • Remove the provision in HB 129 adding school district income tax to the 20 Mill Floor. Still included in HB129 is language adding emergency levies, existing substitute levies, growth levies, conversion levies, and the property tax portion of combined school district income and fixed sum levies to the 20 mill floor. 
  • Clarify that school districts cannot shift their inside millage to increase tax revenue collections and that school districts must still have a public meeting before increasing their collections on inside millage in other ways, such as levying additional inside millage. 
  • Clarify that when additional millage is levied or added to the 20 Mill Floor, those new mills are added on top of 20 mills. 
  • Eliminate new substitute levies going forward and prohibit current substitute levies from being renewed. 
  • Change the purpose of emergency levies to current expenses and change the name to Fixed Sum Levies to reflect that they raise a set amount and are not imposed at a fixed rate. To accomplish this, the amendment prohibits existing emergency levies from being renewed. 

The committee heard opponent testimony on HB 219 from Nicole Piscitani, OSBA, Dr. Paul Imhoff, BASA and George Grice, Treasurer/CFO of Wheelersburg Local.  

The committee also held its third hearing on HB 232, sponsored by Reps. Mathews and Thomas. This bill would modify the requirements governing when political subdivisions can file property tax complaints and counter-complaints and require subdivisions that fail to comply with property tax complaint filing requirements to pay the attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the property owner in connection with the complaint. No witnesses were present to testify on the bill.  

HB 186, sponsored by Reps. James M. Hoops (R-Napoleon) and Thomas, got its fourth hearing. This bill would authorize a reduction in school district property taxes affected by a millage floor, limiting increases in such taxes according to inflation, and would require a corresponding adjustment in the school funding formula. The committee amended the bill to remove the provisions that would have accounted for inflation reductions in the school funding formula. The committee heard testimony from Nicole Piscitani, OSBA, Dr. Paul Imhoff, BASA and Chris Klein, County Auditors’ Association of Ohio (CAAO). All three associations opposed the adopted amendment in their testimony.  

House Energy Committee  

The committee held its fourth hearing on HB 142, sponsored by Reps. Micheal D. Dovilla (R-Berea) and Tex Fischer (R-Boardman). This House companion bill to SB 103 would allow for alternative rate plans for natural gas companies to serve large load customers and to make changes to the process of valuating natural gas company property. The committee adopted a substitute version of the bill, making various tweaks to its language. 

Recently introduced bills  

  • HB 314 - Introduced by Reps. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) and Shannon Ray (R-Wadsworth), this bill would restrict harassing or disruptive public records requests and permit private contractors to respond to voluminous public records requests. 
  • HB 322 - Introduced by Reps. Brian Lorenz (R-Powell) and Elgin Rogers (D-Toledo), this bill would require schools to administer the Presidential Fitness Test and to name this act the Ohio Fitness Test Act. 
  • HB 326 - Introduced by Reps. Ritter and Newman, this bill would make changes regarding the Classic Learning Test entrance exam. 
  • HB 327 - Introduced by Reps. Karen Brownlee (D-Cincinnati) and Darnell T. Brewer (D-Cleveland), this bill would make changes regarding parents’ rights to equitable access for medical care, behavioral health care, hygiene care and educational opportunities for their children. 
  • HB 335 – Sponsored by Rep. Thomas, this bill creates the “Property Tax Relief Act Now” package with the aim of reforming Ohio’s property tax system. The package includes language from existing pieces of legislation -- HB 309, HB 129 and HB 186 – as well as two new proposals, one allowing counties to pursue "piggyback" homestead exemptions for property owners and another abolishing inside millage. Watch the press conference detailing the new bill here. 

Rules activity  

The Department of Education and Workforce has the following rules open for public comment: 

  • Chapter 3301-39: Approval of Nonpublic Schools 
    • OAC 3301-39-01: Definitions 
    • OAC 3301-39-03: Procedures 
    • OAC 3301-39-04: Oversight/revocation of charter 
  • Chapter 3301-101: Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program 
    • OAC 3301-101-01: Definitions 
    • OAC 3301-101-02: Jon Peterson special needs scholarship program established 
    • OAC 3301-101-03: Eligibility to receive a scholarship 
    • OAC 3301-101-04: Application for a scholarship 
    • OAC 3301-101-06: Awarding scholarships 
    • OAC 3301-101-07: Transfer of scholarship 
    • OAC 3301-101-08: Termination of eligibility 
    • OAC 3301-101-09: Participation by providers 
    • OAC 3301-101-10: Payment of scholarship amounts 
    • OAC 3301-101-11: Entities designated to file applications 
    • OAC 3301-101-12: Dispute resolution and due process requests 
    • OAC 3301-101-13: Program administration 
  • Chapter 3301-103: Autism Scholarship Program 
    • OAC 3301-103-01: Definitions 
    • OAC 3301-103-02: Autism scholarship program established 
    • OAC 3301-103-03: Procedures and deadlines for parents to apply for scholarship 
    • OAC 3301-103-04: Responsibilities of a school district of residence 
    • OAC 3301-103-05: Program participation 
    • OAC 3301-103-06: Application and participation of providers 
    • OAC 3301-103-07: Payment under the autism scholarship program 

Click here to view the ODEW rules open for public comment. 

The State Board of Education does not have any rules open for public comment at this time. 

Posted by Malania Birney on 6/6/2025