The Legal Ledger

Back in August, OSBA’s Legal Ledger provided an overview of some of the more frequently asked questions we receive about released time for religious instruction. As a reminder, “released time” is a period of time during…

Recently, President Donald J. Trump has signed executive orders, and several federal agencies have issued communications, addressing various policy areas, including K-12 education. While executive orders primarily guide federal agencies, they often indicate broader policy priorities that may impact schools and educational institutions. Given that several recent orders impact the U.S. Department of Education or discuss K-12 education, we are providing a summary and links to these executive orders and communications.

Executive orders

Executive Order 14168 -…

One of the bills that was passed by the Ohio General Assembly at the end of 2024 was House Bill (HB) 257. The bill, which is effective on April 9, 2025, enacted Ohio Revised Code (RC) 121.221, which allows some public bodies to hold meetings by video conference or similar electronic technology. (For purposes of this blog post, I’ll refer to these meetings as “virtual meetings.”) However, as discussed below, this provision does not allow boards of education to conduct virtual meetings and may actually make virtual attendance at meetings more restrictive.

RC 121.221 allows “members of…

Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to hear two significant…

The General Assembly passed a number of key new laws impacting school districts in its lame-duck session to round out 2024. OSBA will continue to push out information on these provisions and changes districts will need to make in the coming weeks and months. Two of these bills impact the administration of medication to students in schools and may require your district to update its policies and educate staff on the new language.

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On Nov. 27, 2024, Governor Mike DeWine signed SB 104…

This past week, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill (HB) 432, a bill containing key changes to the student data privacy provisions enacted earlier this year in Senate Bill (SB) 29. SB 29, which went into effect in October, imposed significant new requirements on school districts related to student data privacy, including provisions related to contracts with technology providers and restrictions…

One perennial favorite topic on OSBA’s legal hotline is executive sessions. Lately, we’ve been getting questions about whether the information discussed in executive session is legally confidential. It seems like it should be – after all, the board is going behind closed doors to have private discussions on sensitive matters. But is it?

The Open Meetings Act (OMA) is found in Ohio Revised Code (RC) 121.22. It permits executive…

Here at the OSBA legal division, we've gotten some recent questions about required training on fraud reporting. The training requirement became effective this year and, for school district officials and employees, the deadline for training is Nov. 29, 2024. Let's dig a little deeper! 

In an amendment effective earlier this year, Ohio Revised Code (RC…

Districts are now required to have a policy in place that reasonably accommodates the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of individual students with regard to all examinations or other academic requirements and absences for reasons of faith or religious or spiritual belief system. Pursuant to …