COVID-Related Education Issues - Senate Bill 358

9/11/2020

 
Senate Bill (SB) 358 addresses several COVID-related education issues for the 2020-21 school year. Key provisions of SB 358, which extend several items from HB 197 and HB 164, include:

• Allowing for teacher and principal evaluations to be completed without the use of student growth measures;
• Providing flexibility for students should they be unable to take an end-of-course exam by allowing them to meet graduation requirements through the use of the final course grade in the associated class;
• Eliminating state-required assessments (with the exception of diagnostic assessments) and requires the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to seek a waiver from administration of all federally required assessments;
• Prohibiting ODE from issuing state report cards for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, and establishes a safe harbor from report card-related penalties for those school years;
• Giving districts local control in making decisions regarding promotion to fourth grade, free of third-grade reading guarantee mandates; and
• Providing local control in determining if a student is on track to graduate.

 
OASBO joined the other education associations in providing joint proponent testimony in the Senate Education Committee on September 3, 2020. Click here for a copy of the joint testimony. We made several legislative requests in addition to what is currently provided in the bill, including:

• Additional provisions related to EdChoice;
• Extension of waiver authority for ODE;
• Extension of the flexibility to hold virtual board meetings under the Ohio Open Meetings Act;
• Elimination of the new territory transfer law; and
• Elimination of the academic distress commissions.

 
We urge members to contact both your House and Senate members in support of the provisions in SB 358 and to push for the additional items to be added.  
 
While SB 358 addresses certain EdChoice-related issues, OASBO and the other education associations are working together on additional solutions. More to come in the next issue on initiatives for EdChoice!