OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 147 Final Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 147’s Fiscal Note
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Fowler Arthur and A. Miller
Effective date: October 24, 2024; conforming amendments effective January 1, 2025
Effective Date:
Holly Gilman, Attorney UPDATED VERSION*
SUMMARY
School employee misconduct
▪ Expands the definition of “license” with regard to school employee misconduct to include
pupil services personnel registration, private provider registration under the Autism
Scholarship Program, and the authorization for certain unlicensed individuals to teach in
high-performing school districts.
▪ Requires school districts, educational service centers, and chartered nonpublic schools to
file a report as follows:
 With the Superintendent of Public Instruction regarding a licensed employee who
retires during a disciplinary investigation for misconduct; and
 When a licensed employee is removed from the list of eligible substitute teachers
because it has reasonably been determined the employee committed an act
unbecoming to the teaching profession.
▪ Requires the State Board of Education to revoke the license of an individual who is
convicted of prostitution unless the individual was coerced into committing the offense.
Special needs scholarship programs
▪ Permits qualified credentialed providers under the Jon Peterson Special Needs or Autism
Scholarship Programs to offer services virtually.
▪ Adds certain credentialed professionals to the list of professionals who may provide
services under those programs.
* This version updates the effective date.
August 20, 2024
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▪ Subjects any registered private provider approved to participate in the Jon Peterson
Special Needs Scholarship Program to a criminal records check and RAPBACK.
Participation in interscholastic athletics at a different school
▪ Permits a student who is the victim of certain qualifying offenses to participate in
interscholastic athletics at a different school.
▪ Prohibits a district or school, interscholastic conference, and the Ohio High School Athletic
Association (OHSAA) and other organizations regulating interscholastic athletics from
imposing extra fees, rules, penalties, or restrictions on students who participate in
interscholastic athletics at a different school under the act.
Tickets to school-affiliated events
▪ Expands the law regarding cash payments for school-affiliated events by:
 Prohibiting a qualifying school from establishing different ticket prices for an event
based on whether a ticket is purchased using cash or any other payment method; and
 Requiring a qualifying school to charge a student from a school participating in an
event a ticket price that is less than the price charged to an adult for the event.
▪ Subjects OHSAA and other organizations regulating interscholastic athletics to the law
regarding cash payments for school-affiliated events.
Base cost calculation for FYs 2024 and 2025
▪ Requires the Department of Education and Workforce to calculate several cost
components included in a school district’s base cost calculation using the sum of the
enrolled ADM of each school district that reported that data, rather that of every school
district.
High School Financial Literacy Fund
▪ Requires the Director of Education and Workforce to request, and the Director of Budget
and Management to transfer, up to $1.5 million from the General Revenue Fund to the
High School Financial Literacy Fund during the biennium ending June 30, 2025.
▪ Changes the High School Financial Literacy Fund from a custodial fund to a state treasury
fund.
Literacy improvement professional development stipend
▪ Requires public schools to pay a pre-kindergarten teacher a $1,200 stipend for completing
professional development in the science of reading and evidence-based strategies for
effective literacy instruction.
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Authorized private before and after school care programs
▪ Adds an owner, director, administrator, and employee of an authorized private before
and after school care program, a type of licensed school child program, to the existing law
requiring criminal records and other background checks for child care providers.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
School employee misconduct
Definition of “license”
The act expands the school personnel subject to discipline by the State Board of Education
for misconduct by modifying the definition of “license” to include staff members who hold the
following registrations or authorizations:
1. Pupil services personnel registration;
2. The authorization under which an unlicensed individual otherwise qualified based on
experience may teach at certain high-performing school districts, provided the employing
district offers mentoring and professional development opportunities; and
3. Private provider registration with approval to participate in the Autism Scholarship
Program.1
As a result, an individual holding one of these registrations or authorizations may be subject to
discipline by the State Board for misconduct.2
Reports required to be filed with state Superintendent
Retirement under disciplinary investigation
The act requires a school district, educational service center (ESC), or chartered nonpublic
school to file a report with the Superintendent of Public Instruction regarding a licensed
employee who retires during a disciplinary investigation for misconduct. This includes a report
when an employee retires under threat of termination or nonrenewal of the employee’s contract
during the investigation.3
Removal from substitute list for conduct unbecoming
The act also requires a school district, ESC, or chartered nonpublic school to file a report
with the state Superintendent when it removes a licensed employee from the list of eligible
substitute teachers because the district, ESC, or chartered nonpublic school has reasonably
determined that the employee committed an act that is unbecoming to the teaching profession.4
1 R.C. 3319.31(A). See also R.C. 3302.151, 3310.411, and 3319.221, none in the act.
2 See Chapter 3319. See also R.C. 3301.071 and 3301.074, neither in the act.
3 R.C. 3319.313(B)(3), (B)(4), and (E).
4 R.C. 3319.313(B)(5).
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Prostitution − a bar to teaching
Under the act, when the State Board learns of a guilty plea, a finding of guilt, or a
conviction of prostitution by a current or expired license holder or by an applicant for renewal of
a license, the State Board must revoke the license or deny renewal of the license, unless the
prostitution offense was committed under coercion.5
Special needs scholarship programs
Services
For a student who receives a Jon Peterson Special Needs or Autism Scholarship, the act
permits services prescribed in the student’s individualized education program (IEP) to be offered
virtually by qualified credentialed providers.6
Appropriate credentialed professionals
The act adds following credentialed professionals on the State Board’s list of approved
credentialed professionals for the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship:
▪ A behavior analyst certified by a nationally recognized organization that certifies behavior
analysts;
▪ A behavior analyst certified in Ohio;
▪ A psychologist licensed to practice in this state;
▪ An independent school psychologist or school psychologist licensed to practice in this
state;
▪ Any person carrying out specific tasks under the supervision of a licensed psychologist,
independent school psychologist, or school psychologist;
▪ An unlicensed person holding a doctoral degree in psychology or special education from
a program approved by the Department of Education and Workforce;
▪ A registered behavior technician working under the supervision and following the
intervention plan of a certified behavior analyst;
▪ An occupational therapist or physical therapist licensed to practice in Ohio;
▪ A speech-language pathologist licensed to practice in Ohio;
▪ An intervention specialist who holds a valid license issued by the State Board;
▪ A literacy intervention specialist certified through pathways recognized by the Ohio
Dyslexia Committee; and
5 R.C. 3319.31(C).
6 R.C. 3310.41(B) and 3310.52(A).
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▪ Any other qualified individual as determined by the Department.7
Continuing law includes a similar list of providers already permitted to provide
intervention services under the Autism Scholarship Program. However, the act adds the following
credentialed professionals to that list:
▪ An occupational therapist or physical therapist licensed to practice in Ohio;
▪ A speech-language pathologist licensed to practice in Ohio;
▪ An intervention specialist who holds a valid license issued by the State Board;
▪ A literacy intervention specialist certified through pathways recognized by the Ohio
Dyslexia Committee.
The act also expressly includes educators and substitute teachers licensed by the State
Board as qualified, credentialed providers who may provide intervention services under the
Autism Scholarship Program.8
Criminal records check
The act subjects any registered private provider approved to participate in the Jon
Peterson Special Needs scholarship program to a criminal records check. It requires the
Department to enroll an individual for whom a records check is completed in the Retained
Applicant Fingerprint Database (RAPBACK).9
Participation in interscholastic athletics at a different school
Under the act, a school district superintendent or chief administrative officer of a school
may permit a home-educated student or a student enrolled in a different school district,
community school, STEM school, chartered nonpublic school, or nonchartered nonpublic school
to participate in interscholastic athletics at one of the superintendent or chief administrative
officer’s schools if the student was a victim of any of the following by a school official, employee,
volunteer, or another student:
1. Harassment, intimidation, or bullying;
2. An offense of violence;
3. A violation of state importuning law;
4. An attempt to commit an offense of violence or to violate state importuning law;
5. Conduct by a school official, employee, or volunteer that violates that Licensure Code of
Professional Conduct for Ohio Educators developed by the State Board of Education. See
7 R.C. 3310.58(C).
8 R.C. 3310.41(E).
9 R.C. 3310.582.
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the Licensure Code of Professional Conduct for Ohio Educators (PDF), which is available
on the State Board of Education website: sboe.ohio.gov.10
To be a qualifying offense under the act, the individual who was alleged to commit an
offense of violence, violation of the importuning law, or an attempt to do either, must have also
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.
A student who is not home-educated must be of the appropriate age and grade level, as
determined by the superintendent of the district or the chief administrative officer of the
qualifying school, to participate in interscholastic athletics at a different school under the act.
The student must also fulfill the same academic, nonacademic, and financial requirements as any
other participant. A home-educated student must fulfill the requirements for participation in
interscholastic athletics prescribed in continuing law.11
Prohibitions for entities that oversee interscholastic athletics
Districts and schools may not impose additional rules or fees on a student who qualifies
to participate in interscholastic athletics under the act that are not equally applied to other
students who are participating in the same activity.
The act also prohibits a school district, interscholastic conference, or organization that
regulates interscholastic conferences or events (such as the Ohio High School Athletics
Association (OHSAA)) from doing either of the following:
1. Requiring a student who is eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics under the act
to meet eligibility requirements that conflict with those requirements;
2. Penalizing or restricting the eligibility to participate in interscholastic athletics of a student
who, during a school year, ceases to participate in interscholastic athletics at one district
or school and then begins to participate in interscholastic athletics at a different district
or school under the act.
The act explicitly prohibits a public or private school from taking any action contrary from
the act’s requirements.12
Tickets to school-affiliated events
The act makes changes to law recently enacted by H.B. 33 of the 135th General Assembly,
effective October 3, 2023, that requires schools to accept cash payments for tickets to, and
concessions at, school-affiliated events. A description of those requirements is available on
page 248 of the LSC Final Analysis for H.B. 33 (PDF), which is available on the General Assembly’s
website: legislature.ohio.gov. The schools subject to the law, labeled as “qualifying schools,” are
10 R.C. 3313.5313(B) and (C) and R.C. 2901.01, 2907.07, and 3313.666, none in the act.
11 R.C. 3313.5313(D) and (E).
12 R.C. 3313.5313(F), (H), and (G).
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school districts, community schools, STEM schools, and chartered nonpublic schools that elect to
participate in athletic events regulated by an interscholastic conference or an organization that
regulates conferences.
Application of the law
In addition to its other changes, addressed below, the act subjects interscholastic
conferences, and organizations that regulate either interscholastic conferences or interscholastic
competition among member schools, such as OHSAA, to all cash payment requirements that
apply to schools – both those in the preexisting law and the changes made by the act.
Ticket prices based on payment method
The act prohibits qualifying schools and athletic conferences and organizations from
establishing different ticket prices for school-affiliated events based on whether a ticket is
purchased using cash or any other payment method. Although, the act does permit them to
charge a processing fee for tickets purchased online or by credit card.
Ticket prices for students
It also requires qualifying schools and athletic conferences and organizations to charge a
student a ticket price that is less that the price charged for an adult for the same event, essentially
requiring each school and athletic organization to charge a lower student ticket price.13
Base cost calculation for FYs 2024 and 2025
The act addresses how the Department of Education and Workforce calculates the base
cost calculation for city, local, and exempted village school districts in the public school financing
system for FYs 2024 and 2025. Specifically, it requires the Department to calculate each of the
following costs for school districts based on the sum of the enrolled ADM of every school district
that reported that data:
1. Academic co-curricular activities cost;
2