by Nicole Piscitani • May 11, 2025
The Ohio Senate is working on the biennial budget, House Bill (HB) 96, and will be releasing its changes in June. The biennial budget not only provides funding but also contains education-related policy changes affecting attendance, report cards, assessments and more. Changes by the Ohio House also impacted the State Board of Education.
In the most recent biennial budget, enacted July 1, 2023, HB 33 made sweeping changes to the State Board. HB 33 transferred most of the responsibilities of the State Board and the superintendent of public instruction to a newly created position, the director of education and workforce. Appointed by the governor, the director oversees the newly named Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and is responsible for primary, secondary, special and career-technical education. The State Board and the superintendent of public instruction retain duties and broad powers regarding educator licensure, licensee disciplinary actions and school district territory transfers.
In HB 96, the Ohio House included several provisions that would make further changes to the State Board. Currently, there are 19 board members. The governor appoints eight members, and 11 are elected by constituents in the State Board districts. A provision in the House-passed version of HB 96 would eliminate the 11 elected members and reduce the appointed members to five. Additionally, the State Board would be required to have at least one member to represent each of the following: a rural, suburban and urban school district; a community school; and a chartered nonpublic school.
Before the changes made by HB 33, the State Board received general revenue funds that included the State Board of Education Licensure Fund. HB 33 removed general revenue funds and required that all operations be paid from the State Board of Education Licensure Fund. Since this change, the State Board has struggled monetarily and sought additional funds from the legislature in December 2024.
HB 96 includes multiple funding changes. First, the bill requires that the operating expenses be paid primarily from the Occupational Licensing and Regulatory Fund. The State Board of Education Licensure Fund will be eliminated, requiring that all teacher licensure payments be deposited in the Occupational Licensing and Regulatory Fund. Secondly, the bill requires that the State Board establish license, certificate or permit fee amounts that, along with any appropriations made by the General Assembly, will be enough to cover its annual estimated operating expenses, instead of just the cost of administering the State Board’s licensure system as under current law. Furthermore, the bill eliminates the Resident Educator Summative Assessment (RESA), which is an expense to the State Board and costs over $1 million annually. The State Board requested the elimination of RESA as a cost-saving measure.
Senate Education Committee Chair Andrew O. Brenner (R-Delaware) has hinted that the Ohio Senate will likely make additional changes to the State Board composition and the funding structure.