For 2024, the OSBA legal division has decided to bring back a popular blog feature: question of the month. We will be focusing on questions that apply to many school board members and come up frequently in phone calls and presentations.
2024's first question of the month is: Can a school board member sell anything to the district? There are a couple of laws that apply to this question.
In this Legal Ledger Sidebar, OSBA attorneys Jennifer and John discuss the Ohio Ethics Law restrictions on gifts, entertainment and other things of value. The conversation covers the key aspects of the laws as they apply to school board members and school employees.
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 prov
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.
