OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 407 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 407’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Manning and Seitz
Effective date:
Mike Niemi, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
Establishes new reporting requirements for chartered nonpublic schools that enroll
students participating in a general scholarship program (either the Ed Choice
Scholarship Program or the Cleveland Scholarship Program).
Expressly requires public money held by a chartered nonpublic school that enrolls
general scholarship students to be accounted for separately from other funds.
Requires the Department of Education and Workforce to issue a state report card for
qualifying chartered nonpublic schools that enroll general scholarship students and to
report other specified student performance and family adjusted gross income data.
Eliminates exceptions that permit general scholarship students to take alternative
assessments instead of state assessments and qualify for a high school diploma based
on alternative assessments.
Establishes or modifies reporting requirements regarding the Ed Choice Scholarship
Program for chartered nonpublic schools and the Department.
Requires each public and chartered nonpublic school to maintain student disciplinary
records and to transmit a transfer student’s disciplinary record with the student’s school
records upon request of the student’s new school.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
General scholarship program requirements
The bill addresses requirements for chartered nonpublic schools that enroll students
participating in a “general scholarship program.” Under the bill, a “general scholarship
program” is the Ed Choice Scholarship Program or the Cleveland Scholarship Program.
In addition, the bill establishes new requirements for the Department of Education and
Workforce regarding those schools. It also revises the state assessment and high school
February 27, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
graduation requirements for students in those schools who are participating in a general
scholarship program.
Chartered nonpublic schools
State expenditure report
The bill requires each chartered nonpublic school enrolling students participating in a
general scholarship program to submit annually to the Department a state expenditure report.
The report must include information regarding expenditures the school made using the state
funds it received under a general scholarship program in that school year.
The Department must post each report it receives on its publicly accessible website. A
chartered nonpublic school may contract with an information technology center for assistance
in complying with the new requirement.1
Admission procedure
The bill requires each chartered nonpublic school enrolling students participating in a
general scholarship program include in its admission procedure a method to determine which
students to admit if the number of applicants for a grade level, school building, or education
program exceeds the school’s capacity. Each school must report its method to the
Department.2
Capacity, enrollment, and prior school year attendance reporting
The bill establishes additional reporting requirements for each chartered nonpublic
school in which at least 20% of its total enrollment is composed of students participating in a
general scholarship program. Each such school must report annually to the Department all of
the following:
1. The school’s total enrollment and its capacity limits by grade level, school building, and
education program;
2. The number of scholarship students enrolled in the school, disaggregated by whether, in
the prior school year, the students were enrolled in:
a. That school;
b. A different chartered nonpublic school;
c. A nonchartered nonpublic school;
d. A city, local, or exempted village school district;
e. A community school;
f. A STEM school; or
1 R.C. 3301.165(A) and (B).
2 R.C. 3301.166(B).
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g. If the student was not enrolled in a district or school, whether the student was
homeschooled or if, in the current school year, the student is enrolling in school in
this state for the first time.3
Department of Education and Workforce
System to compare student performance data
The bill requires the Department to establish a system where an individual may
compare the performance data of students enrolled in a chartered nonpublic school and
participating in a general scholarship program with the performance data of similar students
enrolled in the district in which the school is located or a community school, STEM school, or
other chartered nonpublic school in that district. The Department must make the system
available on its publicly accessible website.
In calculating the performance of similar students, the Department must consider age,
grade, race and ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.4
Reporting family adjusted gross income categories
Under the bill, annually the Department must post on its publicly accessible website the
number of students participating in a general scholarship program, disaggregated according to
the following categories:
1. Students with a family adjusted gross income (AGI) at or below 450% of the federal
poverty level (FPL);
2. Students with a family AGI above 450% FPL, but at or below 500% FPL;
3. Students with a family AGI above 500% FPL, but at or below 550% FPL;
4. Students with a family AGI above 550% FPL, but at or below 600% FPL;
5. Students with a family AGI above 600% FPL, but at or below 650% FPL;
6. Students with a family AGI above 650% FPL, but at or below 700% FPL;
7. Students with a family AGI above 700% FPL, but at or below 750% FPL; and
8. Students with a family AGI above 750% FPL.
The bill permits the Department to disaggregate the data according to other categories
as the Department determines appropriate. It also requires the Department of Education and
Workforce to request from the Department of Taxation any data necessary to compute and
post that data.5
3 R.C. 3301.166(A) and (C).
4 R.C. 3301.167(B).
5 R.C. 3301.167(C).
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Under continuing law, tax return information is confidential and cannot be disclosed by
an employee of the Department of Taxation or any other individual. However, the Department
of Taxation has a general authorization to share information with any state or federal agency
when disclosure is necessary to ensure compliance with state or federal law. The receiving
agency is prohibited from disclosing any of this shared information, except as otherwise
authorized by state or federal law.6
Report card
The bill requires the Department of Education and Workforce to establish a report card
for chartered nonpublic schools in which at least 20% of their total enrollment is composed of
students participating in a general scholarship program. To the extent practicable, the
Department must make that report card similar to the state report card issued for public
schools. The Department must include in the state report card the information a chartered
nonpublic school is newly required to report under the bill (see “State expenditure
report,” “Admission procedure,” and “Capacity, enrollment, and prior school
year attendance reporting,” above). The Department must issue the chartered nonpublic
school report card by September 15 each year.7
Students
State assessment exceptions
The bill removes alternative assessment options for general scholarship students
attending a chartered nonpublic school. This applies to both schools accredited through the
Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), and all other chartered
nonpublic schools that enroll scholarship students. The bill eliminates exceptions for general
scholarship students that:
1. Permit a student who is enrolled in grades 3-8 to take alternative standardized
assessments in lieu of state elementary assessments;8
2. Permit a high school student, in lieu of taking both the state end-of-course exams and
the nationally standardized assessment (ACT or SAT), to just take either:
a. An alternative assessment approved by the Department; or
b. A nationally standardized assessment (ACT or SAT), under certain circumstances.9
Otherwise, the bill does not affect the assessment exceptions for students enrolled in
chartered nonpublic schools who are:
1. Attending school without state scholarships;
6 R.C. 5703.21, not in the bill.
7 R.C. 3302.0311.
8 R.C. 3301.0711(K)(1)(a), 3310.03(D)(2)(c), and 3313.976(A)(10)(c).
9 R.C. 3301.0711(L)(1) and (3), 3310.03(D)(2), 3310.14(A), and 3313.976(A)(10).
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2. Participating in the Autism Scholarship Program;
3. Participating in the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program;
4. Eligible for a separate exception under continuing law (for example, exceptions related
to English learners, student with individualized education programs (IEPs), and certain
students with disabilities).10
For additional information about state assessments, see the LSC Assessments Required
Under State and Federal Law (PDF) Members Brief, which is also available on lsc.ohio.gov.
High school graduation requirements
Continuing law establishes graduation requirements that public and chartered
nonpublic school students must meet to qualify for a high school diploma. Generally, to qualify
for a high school diploma, a student must demonstrate competency in English language arts
and math and earn two diploma seals.
However, current law permits students enrolled in chartered nonpublic schools to
instead qualify for a high school diploma by attaining a specified score on an alternative
assessment approved by the Department or a nationally standardized assessment (ACT or SAT)
if the student’s school administers either of those assessments instead of state assessments.
The bill limits that exception to students who are not participating in a general
scholarship program. Students participating in a general scholarship program must comply with
the graduation requirements prescribed for public school students.11
Other Ed Choice requirements
Family income of student receiving an SGO scholarship
Continuing law permits a chartered nonpublic school to accept scholarships issued by a
scholarship granting organization (SGO) as payment for the difference between the student’s
Ed Choice scholarship amount and the school’s regular tuition and other fees.
The bill requires each school that accepts an SGO scholarship for that purpose to report
annually to the Department the family income of each SGO scholarship recipient.12
Student performance data reporting deadline
Current law requires the Department to post student performance data for Ed Choice
scholarships students on its website and distribute the data to the parents of eligible students
by February 1. The bill changes that deadline to September 15.13
10R.C. 3301.0711(K) and (L), 3310.03(D)(2), 3310.14, and 3313.976(A)(10). See also R.C. 3310.41 and
3310.522, neither in the bill.
11 R.C. 3301.0711(L)(2), 3313.618(D), and 3313.619.
12 R.C. 3310.13(F).
13 R.C. 3310.15(C).
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Student disciplinary records
Requirement to maintain records
The bill requires each school district, community school, STEM school, college-
preparatory boarding school, and chartered nonpublic school to maintain a disciplinary record
for each student who is subject to a disciplinary action. The record must include a description of
each incident that resulted in disciplinary action. The record of a student in a public school is
subject to state and federal student privacy laws.14
Requirement to transfer records
Continuing law generally requires each district or school to transmit a transfer student’s
school records to the student’s new school within five school days of receiving a request from
the new school. For the purpose of that requirement, the bill expressly includes a disciplinary
record in the definition of school records.15
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 02-12-24
ANHB0407IN-135/ar
14R.C. 3313.6612. The provision applies to community schools, STEM schools, and college-preparatory
boarding schools through cross references in R.C. 3314.03(A)(11)(d), 3326.11, and 3328.24, respectively.
15R.C. 3319.324(A). The provision applies to community schools, STEM schools, and college-preparatory
boarding schools through cross references in R.C. 3314.03(A)(11)(d), 3326.11, and 3328.24, respectively.
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As Introduced
Statutes affected: As Introduced: 3301.0711, 3310.03, 3310.13, 3310.14, 3310.15, 3313.618, 3313.619, 3313.976, 3314.03, 3319.324, 3326.11, 3328.24