For the past couple weeks here on the Legal Ledger, we’ve spent some time exploring House Bill (HB) 96, Ohio’s budget bill, which was passed earlier this month. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, the bill contains many substantive changes for school districts. In this week’s Legal Ledger, we’re going to discuss some provisions that affect schools related to scholarships for students with disabilities.
HB 96 made adjustments to both the autism scholarship and the Jon Peterson special needs scholarship. These scholarships are available to students with disabilities and are designed to fund educational placements and services for students whose families choose to receive services from private providers rather than to enroll them in public schools.
Autism scholarship
The autism scholarship is a special needs scholarship that is available to students who have a diagnosis of autism or have services related to autism in their individualized education program (IEP). The bill updated Ohio Revised Code (RC) 3310.41 to replace “parent” as the person who can apply for the scholarship on behalf of their child with “eligible applicant.” The updated definition clarifies that in addition to a child’s parents, other individuals may apply for the scholarship on the child’s behalf under certain circumstances. Included within “eligible applicant” are custodians or guardians of the child, grandparents who are caring for the child and have executed a grandparent power of attorney or caretaker authorization affidavit, a surrogate parent or the child themselves if they are at least 18 and no custodian or guardian has been appointed.
The legislation also contains updates clarifying that the scholarship is available to students who are at least 3, and younger than 22, years old. For students 18 or older, the scholarship remains available to them as long as they remain eligible to enter their local public school system and have not received a diploma. They also remain eligible if they attend a nonpublic school or are homeschooled, as long as they have not received a diploma and are served with an IEP that includes services related to autism and eligible to receive transition services through the IEP.
HB 96 also makes clear that autism scholarship funds may be used to pay for services provided by multiple providers to implement the child’s IEP or education plan and that scholarship providers may provide services to students virtually. In addition, the funds may be used to pay for services provided by educational aides and instructional assistants.
Jon Peterson special needs scholarship
The Jon Peterson scholarship is available to any student with an IEP in Ohio, regardless of their diagnosis, though the amount of the scholarship varies depending on the student’s category of eligibility. HB 96 made several changes to this scholarship program as well, most of which are analogous to the ones made to the autism scholarship described above. The legislation clarifies that the scholarship is available to otherwise eligible students who are at least 3 and younger than 22, that funds may be used to pay for services from multiple providers and that services paid for using scholarship funds may be provided virtually.
These changes will be effective September 30, 2025. This is not a comprehensive overview of the changes made to these programs, and readers are encouraged to review the legislation in full. We also encourage districts to consult legal counsel for legal advice related to the changes. Members are welcome to contact OSBA’s division of legal services with general questions about this and other budget bill changes at 855-OSBA-LAW.