Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio House Bill 164 (H.B. 164) on Friday, June 19, 2020. The bill addresses certain religious rights of public school students, in addition to numerous provisions regarding the reopening of schools for the 2020-2021 school year in this era of COVID-19. A summary of key provisions of the bill are as follows:
Teacher and principal evaluations for 2020-2021 school year
The bill prohibits a school district from using value-added progress dimension data, any other high-quality student data, or any other student academic growth data to measure student learning attributable to a teacher or principal while conducting evaluations for the 2020-2021 school year.
It instead requires that a school district use the other factors and components prescribed under continuing law to conduct evaluations. That includes formal and informal observations, and other performance rubric data.
The bill cannot be construed as prohibiting a district from considering as part of an evaluation how a teacher or principal collects, analyzes, and uses student data, including student academic growth data, to adapt instruction to meet individual student needs or to improve the teacher’s or principal’s practice.
Teacher subject area or grade band assignment flexibility
The bill permits a superintendent to employ or reassign a licensed teacher to teach a subject area or grade level for which the teacher is not licensed for the 2020-2021 school year, as long as the teacher’s licensure grade band is within two grade levels of the grade to be taught, and the teacher has three or more years of teaching experience.
Online bus driver training
The bill requires ODE to develop an online training program to satisfy the classroom portion of pre-service and annual in-service training for school bus driver certification for the 2020-2021 school year.
Qualify for high school diploma using final course grades in lieu of end-of-course exam scores
The bill permits a student who was scheduled to take or re-take an end-of-course exam in the 2019-2020 school year, but did not do so because the exam was cancelled, to use the student’s final course grade in lieu of an exam score to satisfy conditions for a high school diploma. Any letter grade of “C” or higher shall be deemed equivalent to a competency score. A pass designation also shall be equivalent to a competency score.
ODE guidance on graduation in light of HB 164 is available here.
Third-grade reading guarantee
For the 2020-2021 school year only, the bill prohibits a school district or school from retaining in the third grade a student who does not attain a passing score on the fall administration of the third grade ELA achievement test, if a student demonstrates competency. Competency is determined by the principal and reading teacher, who must agree the student’s reading demonstrates the student is academically prepared to be promoted to fourth grade.
The bill prohibits ODE from reviewing and adjusting upward the promotion score for the third grade ELA assessment for the 2020-2021 school year, and, instead, requires the use of the 2019-2020 promotion score of 683 for the 2020-2021 school year.
HB 164 exempts a teacher assigned to provide intense remediation reading assistance to a student in the 2020-2021 school year under the Third-Grade Reading Guarantee from certain criteria otherwise required under continuing law regarding training, licensure, and evaluation criteria.
ODE guidance is available here.
Academic assessment records for home instructed students
The bill exempts parents of students receiving home instruction from the administrative rule requirement to submit an “academic assessment record” for the 2019-2020 school year to the student’s resident school district superintendent as a condition of allowing the student to continue receiving home instruction for the 2020-2021 school year.
Services to special needs students
The bill permits non-classroom personnel providing professional services to students with disabilities to provide services electronically or via telehealth communication for the balance of the 2019-2020 school year and the entirety of the 2020-2021 school year, now including school psychologists along with SLPs, OTs, PTs, counselors, social workers, and intervention specialists.
The bill also applies to telehealth services to students receiving services under the Autism Scholarship Program, Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program, or any student enrolled in a public or private school who was receiving these services prior to the 19-20 COVID-related school closure.
Remote learning
The bill permits public schools that have not otherwise been approved to use a “blended” learning model under continuing law for the 2020-2021 school year to adopt a plan to provide instruction using a “remote” learning model for the 2020-2021 school year.
For remote learning under HB 164, districts have until July 31, 2020 to submit remote learning plans to ODE, although it is not subject to ODE approval prior to implementation. However, the July 31 date has been extended by ODE to August 21, 2020. The plan will be on ODE’s web site and must include:
A description of how student instructional needs will be determined and documented;
The method to be used for determining competency, granting credit, and promoting students to a higher grade level;
The school’s attendance requirements, including how the school will document participation in learning opportunities;
A statement describing how student progress will be monitored;
A description as to how equitable access to quality instruction will be ensured; and
A description of the professional development activities that will be offered to teachers.
School districts submitting the above remote learning plan will be considered compliant (for the 2020-2021 year only) with minimum-hour requirements and funding eligibility criteria. Students served remotely may not exceed 1.0 full time equivalency for state funding purposes.
ODE’s remote learning resources are available here.
Storm shelters
The bill extends from September 15, 2020, to November 30, 2022, the existing moratorium regarding the construction of storm shelters in private and public school buildings.
Religious expression in schools
The bill requires public schools to give students who wish to meet for the purpose of religious expression the same access to school facilities given to secular student groups, without regard to the content of the expression.
The bill further prohibits public schools from rewarding or penalizing a student based on the religious content of the student’s homework, artwork, or other assignments.
Additional payment for school districts
The bill requires ODE to make an additional payment to each school district that receives, for FY 2020, a combined amount of foundation funding after state budget reductions and funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that is less than 94% of its foundation funding for FY 2020 as calculated before state budget reductions.
The bill specifies that the amount of this payment is equal to the difference between (1) 94% of the district’s foundation funding for FY 2020 as calculated before state budget reductions and (2) the combined amount of foundation funding after state budget reductions and funding from the federal CARES Act.
This provision would provide approximately $24 million in total GRF funding to be distributed to qualifying districts.
The bill requires ODE to make a payment, for FY 2020 and 2021, to each city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school district with more than a 10% decrease in the taxable value of utility tangible personal property (TPP) subject to taxation that has at least one power plant located within its territory.