Over the summer, Governor DeWine signed House Bill 147 into law, which started out as a bill to fix a loophole related to reporting teacher misconduct but was amended before it went to the Governor. The amendments include impactful new regulations regarding student athletics.

HB 147 creates a new law - ORC 3313.5313 - that allows a school superintendent or chief administrative officer to permit a home-educated student or a student enrolled in a different school (public or private) to participate in athletics at one of the superintendent’s or chief administrative officer’s schools, if the student was subject to certain conduct. These provisions were originally found in Senate Bill 259 that was introduced in May 2024 and that received only one hearing before the provisions were inserted in HB 147. Additionally HB 147 also makes some changes regarding how school districts can charge for attendance at school-affiliated events and activities, revising ORC 3313.5319. Both changes are effective October 24, 2024.

First, regarding athletic participation by nonresident students, the new law allows student athletes to petition the superintendent or chief administrative officer of another school district, a community school, a STEM school, or a private school to participate in interscholastic athletics while the student is still able to remain enrolled in their current school (whether their current school is a public school, community school, STEM school, or private school) or while remaining home-educated, if they have been subject to any of the following conduct:

Harassment, intimidation, or bullying;
A qualifying offense, for which the school official, employee, volunteer or student has been:
- Charged with, indicted for, convicted of, or pled guilty;
- Alleged to be or is adjudicated a delinquent child.
Conduct by a school official, employee, or volunteer that violates the licensure code of professional conduct.

The misconduct can be committed by a school official, employee, volunteer, or another student.

The misconduct that could implicate this exception, “harassment, intimidation or bullying” for purposes of this new law, is the same definition at ORC 3313.666:

Any intentional written, verbal, electronic, or physical act that a student has exhibited toward another particular student more than once and the behavior both: causes mental or physical harm to the other student, and is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the other student.
Violence within the dating relationship

For a determination of whether a student was harassed, intimidated, or bullied, the statute does not require a specific showing or determination (such as the completion of an investigation under Board policy), so the receiving superintendent has discretion to determine if a student’s claim of harassment/intimidation/bullying is valid.

Next, a “qualifying offense” means:

an offense of violence;
a violation of Section 2907.07 of the Ohio Revised Code (the statute dealing with soliciting a minor for sexual activity); or
an attempt to commit an offense of violence or an attempt to solicit a minor for sexual activity.

For a “qualifying offense” to implicate this athletic participation rule, the individual who committed the conduct must have been charged with, indicted for, convicted of, or pled guilty to committing the offense or, if the offender is another student, has been alleged to be or is adjudicated a delinquent child for committing the offense.

Finally, a licensure code violation includes a very wide range of conduct by an educator, ranging from maintaining professional relationships with students (including using inappropriate language, gestures or signs at a school-related event) to confidentiality violation (such as knowingly violating any student confidentiality rules). Although the statute is not particularly clear, it does indicate that the conduct implicating this transfer exception must “violate” the licensure code. It does not say that the State Board of Education Office of Professional Conduct has to make a determination on the violation, but if a superintendent is going to permit an athletic transfer based on this conduct, it would need to be clear that the conduct was a violation and it would be best practice to ensure that a report had been made to the Office of Professional Conduct to support that claim.

Based on the definition of “qualifying school” in the statute, the new law would also permit a student who attends in their public district of residence from participating in interscholastic athletics at a private school without having to transfer to the private school, if the student was subject to any of the above conduct. The law also permits a student athlete to begin playing for their own school sports team and make the request to transfer mid-season (again, provided the student is subject to any of the above conduct). Districts may see more and more requests from players who are seeking to participate in programs in other districts and at other private schools, so it is important to understand this complicated landscape.

Regarding charging for admission to school-affiliated events and activities, beginning last fall, schools were required to accept cash as a form of payment for entry into any “school affiliated event,” including athletic contests. Since that time, some schools have instituted practices of offering different ticket prices based on the form of payment. HB 147 now disallows qualifying schools as well as athletic conferences and organizations from establishing different ticket prices based on the payment method. Schools are permitted to charge a processing fee for any ticket purchased online or by credit card. Schools must also offer a student enrolled in any school participating in a school-affiliated event a ticket price that is less than the ticket price the school charges for an adult for the same event. This includes middle school events, but a mandated difference in the price amount is not specified in the bill. This is a small but important change that will need to be implemented in the coming weeks to ensure continued compliance with state law.