Recently, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s (“ODEW”) Office of Nonpublic Educational Options issued “Scholarship Program Updates” on the Autism Scholarship. In the update, ODEW emphasizes that scholarship providers are not required members of a scholarship student’s IEP team and should not should not “participate” in writing goals, objectives, present levels of performance, etc. for the IEPs developed by the public school districts.
Ohio Enacts Parents’ Bill of Rights
This week, Governor DeWine signed House Bill 8 (“HB 8”), also known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which, among other things, requires public school districts to adopt a policy that promotes parental involvement in the public school system by providing parental notification on student health and well-being and instructional materials that contain sexuality content as well as reaffirms a parent’s right to make decisions regarding their child’s education. HB 8 also includes provisions related to release time for religious instruction.
The bill will take effect within 90 days of the Governor’s signature – on or about April 8, 2025.