State Board of Education

by Nicole Piscitani • July 6, 2025

The six-month budget process has come to an end with Gov. Mike DeWine signing House Bill (HB) 96. This is DeWine’s last budget, as he is term-limited at the end of 2026. DeWine used his power to line-item veto 67 items, and several of them impact education.

One of DeWine’s line-item vetoes removed provisions that would have impacted school board races. However, HB 96 makes changes to several other education boards, including the State Teachers Retirement System Retirement Board and the State Board of Education.

Yesterday, the State Board of Education and Ohio Department of Education (ODE) made the proposed amendments to the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) rule on transportation of students with disabilities (

Just last month, the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction released Ohio’s five-year strategic plan for education, titled Each Child, Our Future.

On Jan. 16, via press release, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced the approval of Ohio’s state plan submitted as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Ohio was one of 11 states receiving DOE plan approval, including Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Just yesterday, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) posted additional draft sections of Ohio’s federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) template. Ohio released its original draft plan in Feb. 2017 after soliciting stakeholder feedback. In March, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) released a revised ESSA plan template, and as a result, Ohio is releasing a revised plan application that meets DOE’s revised template requirements.

Restraint and seclusion reporting

Last month, the State Board of Education considered the first application for a pupil activity permit from a felony ex-offender holding a Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE). Created by Senate Bill 337 in 2012, the CQE process allows persons who have a previous felony or misdemeanor conviction to apply to the court in their county of residence to lift collateral sanctions that prohibit an individual from being considered for employment in certain fields, including education.  As of May 20, 2015, just over 300 CQEs have been issued in Ohio. 

The State Board of Education has filed new draft rehabilitation rules with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR). This act begins the formal rule-making process and triggers a public hearing before the State Board. The hearing on these rules is June 18 at 11:00am.