On July 1, 2021, Governor DeWine signed House Bill 110, Ohio’s operating budget for fiscal years 2022-2023. HB 110 addresses K-12 schools and contains important changes to policy and programs that impact local school districts for the 2021-2022 school year.
The following is a summary of the HB 110 provisions that apply to school districts for new provisions on Online Learning and changes to the rules regarding Blended Learning.
Online Learning Schools
Any local, city, exempted village, or joint vocational school district may operate a school using an online learning model. ESC’s are excluded here, but districts can contract with ESCs to provide educational delivery of an online learning model.
An online learning school reflects a different model than the remote learning plan that was authorized during the 2020-2021 school year, as well as the amended blended learning model and/or alternative school that are available options for this school year.
Online learning is defined as a scenario where students work primarily from their residences on assignments delivered via an internet- or other computer-based instructional method. While similar to remote learning in some ways, the requirements for operating an online learning school versus the use of a remote learning plan (available last school year) are critically different. The following is required to operate an online learning school:
An online learning school within the district must operate as a separate school with its own IRN.
Students engaged in online learning must be assigned and enrolled in the designated online school (EMIS reporting).
Students shall be provided with a computer, at no cost, for instructional use.
Districts shall provide a filtering device or install filtering software that protects against internet access to materials that are obscene or harmful to juveniles on each computer provided to students for instructional use.
Students shall be provided internet access, at no cost, for instructional use.
An online learning school must provide a comprehensive orientation for students and their parents or guardians prior to enrollment or within thirty days for students enrolled.
The district/online learning school shall implement a learning management system that tracks the time students participate in online learning activities. All student learning activities completed while off-line shall be documented with all participation records checked and approved by the teacher of record.
In addition, the state board of education must include standards for the operation of online learning in Ohio’s operating standards. The online learning operation standards must provide for the following:
Student-to-teacher ratios whereby no school or classroom is required to have more than one teacher for every one hundred twenty-five students in online learning classrooms.
The ability of all students, at any grade level, to earn credits or advance grade levels upon demonstrating mastery of knowledge or skills through competency-based learning models. Credits or grade level advancement shall not be based on a minimum number of days or hours in a classroom.
An annual instructional calendar of not less than 910 hours.
Adequate provisions for:
Licensing of teachers, administrators, and other professional personnel and their assignment according to training and qualifications.
Efficient and effective instructional materials and equipment, including library facilities
Proper organization, administration, and supervision of each school, including regulations for preparing all necessary records and reports and the preparation of a statement of policies and objectives for each school.
Buildings, grounds, and health and sanitary facilities and services.
Admission of pupils, and such requirements for their promotion from grade to grade as will ensure that they are capable and prepared for the level of study to which they are certified.
Requirements for graduation
Districts planning to operate an online learning school should notify the Ohio Department of Education of that fact by Aug. 1, 2021, and request that the school be classified as an online learning school. Superintendents should complete a School District Online Learning Form and email it to: onlineLearning@education.ohio.gov.
ODE also issued guidance to clarify that the decision to operate an online learning school is not intended to be a transition strategy for a short period as school districts continue to address the ongoing pandemic but rather should be approached with a sense of permanency and longevity. As such, school districts should not depend on online learning to account for instruction on days schools may be closed for a period of time for calamity or other unforeseen circumstances, but instead will need to rely on traditional options like use of blizzard bags or other calamity day procedures.
Changes to Blended Learning
Blended learning remains an option for school districts for the 2021-2022 school year, but the definition of blended learning has changed in critical ways. HB 110 defines blended learning as “the delivery of instruction in a combination of time primarily in a supervised physical location away from home and online delivery whereby the student has some element of control over time, place, path, or pace of learning.” School districts that may have originally intended to use a blended learning model as an alternative to a remote learning plan so that students could continue to receive the majority of instruction at home no longer have that option in terms of the location of service. According to HB 110, operating a blended learning model now requires that instruction be delivered primarily in a location away from home. Moreover, a school operating a blended learning model is no longer exempt from state mandated minimum hours of instruction. HB 110 requires that blended learning programs must have a minimum of 910 hours of instruction.
In addition, and to reiterate, the 910-hour requirement is now a requirement for both the new Online model and Blended learning. ODE made clear in its FAQ that state funding will be reduced for those students who are under the minimum hours of instruction. Specifically, ODE stated that “students can generate full funding if they engage in at least 910 hours of instruction. This is a combination of logged online learning activities and appropriately approved time related to off-line learning activities. For students who engage in less than the minimum hours of instruction, the district will be required to reduce the student’s percent of time element in EMIS data reporting. This will have the impact of reducing the student’s calculated full time-equivalency (FTE) and the amount of funding the student generates for the district. The district should be prepared to provide evidence that supports the claimed engagement for each student.”
If a school no longer wishes to operate a blended learning program in light of the recent changes, it must notify ODE of that fact by August 31st of this year.