The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has issued a reminder about the annual consolidated school report that each school district must file this autumn. The report for the 2021-22 school year is due by Nov. 30, 2022, and ODE has recently prepared instructions for districts to follow when filing it.
In December, the General Assembly enacted the “ban the box” law, House Bill (H.B.) 56. The bill creates R.C. 9.73, which prohibits public employers in Ohio from including any questions about a person’s criminal background on employment applications. School districts should take steps now to ensure compliance with the law when it becomes effective on March 23, 2016.
Candidates required to file a post-general election campaign finance report must do so by December 11. You can find the reporting forms on the Secretary of State’s website.
Among the many provisions impacting school districts in the biennium budget (HB 64) that took effect on September 29, 2015 was a significant change to the property disposal process for school districts.
With the end of summer comes falling leaves, football, and OSBA’s legal hotline abuzz with enrollment questions throughout the state. One of those questions: our school district requests a student’s social security number (SSN) to enroll students. What do we do if the parent doesn’t provide one?
Under the Privacy Act of 1974, a school district may not prevent a student from enrollment for failure to provide their SSN or proof the student has an SSN.
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has released an information sheet on testing dates for FY2016, adjusted for the changes required by the recent passage of the biennium budget. The department has also issued a guidance document on safe harbor provisions designed to assist administrators in understanding the provision
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits gender discrimination in any education program or activity that is supported by federal monies. On April 24, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) reminded schools receiving federal dollars that they must designate at least one employee to coordinate Title IX compliance and released a guidance package relating to Title IX compliance.
Each board of education is required by law to adopt a “school safety plan” for each building in the district. Recently, the laws have changed regarding the creation and submission of these plans. Changes to RC 3313.536 became effective last fall, and ODE’s accompanying administrative rule (OAC 3301-5-01) became effective in January. Changes include:
Name change. Previously, the law referred to these plans as “school safety plans.” The new laws change the name of the plans to “emergency management plans.”
On January 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) notifying schools that students with disabilities must be afforded equal access to extracurricular athletics. The DCL comes after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report noting the positive impact that extracurricular athletics has on students, especially those with disabilities.
