OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 575 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 575’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsors: Reps. Isaacsohn and Robinson
Effective date:
Jessica Sutton, LSC Fellow
SUMMARY
Chartered Nonpublic School Reporting
Requires chartered nonpublic schools in which at least 25% of its enrolled students
participate in a state scholarship program to do all of the following:
Submit five-year projections of revenues and expenditures to the Department of
Education and Workforce;
Include the school’s graduation rates and aggregate state assessment results in all
school advertising and recruitment materials;
Submit a funding and expenditure accountability report of state funding to the
Department; and
Comply with requests for the school’s financial records as though the school were a
school district under Ohio’s public records law.
Requires the Auditor of State to conduct a financial audit of each chartered nonpublic
school described above.
Requires the Department of Education and Workforce to issue a state report card for
chartered nonpublic schools.
Requires the Department to post and distribute performance data of Ed Choice
scholarship students by September 15 each year, rather than February 1 as under
current law.
Assessments
Decreases from 65% to 50% the threshold of state scholarship student enrollment used
to determine whether a chartered nonpublic school must administer state elementary
assessments to all of its students, rather than just scholarship recipients.
June 18, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Requires all chartered nonpublic schools that primarily serve students with disabilities
to administer state elementary assessments.
Requires chartered nonpublic schools to administer the state end-of-course exams to
state scholarship recipients.
Eliminates the eligibility of a state scholarship student attending a chartered nonpublic
school to qualify for a high school diploma by attaining a specified score on an approved
alternative assessment or the ACT or SAT.
Requires chartered nonpublic schools to post aggregate data regarding the state
assessments it administers to its students.
Nondiscrimination
Prohibits the Director of Education and Workforce from granting a charter to a
nonpublic school unless the school submits an affidavit of intent not to discriminate,
implements a racial nondiscriminatory policy, and posts that policy in various materials.
Bill title
Entitles the bill the “Private School Accountability and Transparency Act.”
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Accountability measures for certain chartered nonpublic schools
The bill creates new accountability requirements for qualifying chartered nonpublic
schools. To qualify, at least 25% of a chartered nonpublic school’s enrolled students must
participate in a state scholarship program. State scholarship programs include the Ed Choice,
Autism, Jon Peterson Special Needs, and Pilot Project (Cleveland) Scholarship programs.
Five-year projections of revenues and expenditures
The bill requires each qualifying chartered nonpublic school to comply with rules
adopted by the Department of Education and Workforce and the Auditor of State regarding
submission of five-year projections of operational revenues and expenditures as though the
school were a school district.1 Additionally, the bill permits the State Board of Education to
limit, suspend, or revoke a license issued to any school employee who is found to have willfully
contributed erroneous, inaccurate, or incomplete data required for the submission of a
chartered nonpublic school’s five-year projection.2
1 R.C. 3301.165(B); see also R.C. 5705.391, not in the bill.
2 R.C. 3301.165(C).
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As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Administrative rule currently requires school districts to submit a five-year projection of
operational revenues and expenditures by November 30 of each fiscal year and an update to
the projection by May 31 of the fiscal year.3
Funding and expenditures accountability report
The bill requires each qualifying chartered nonpublic school to submit to the
Department of Education and Workforce, in a manner determined by the Department, a
funding and expenditure accountability report. The report must include the amount of state
funding the school received from EdChoice scholarships, a detailed account of the expenditure
of those funds, and any other relevant data required by the Department.4
Financial audits
The bill requires the Department of Education and Workforce to provide a list of
qualifying chartered nonpublic schools to the Auditor of State. The bill then requires the
Auditor of State to conduct an annual financial audit of each of those schools. Audits must be
conducted in accordance with state law regarding audits of public funds distributed to private
institutions.5
Advertising and recruitment materials
The bill requires each qualifying chartered nonpublic school to include the school’s
graduation rates and aggregate results on state assessments6 in all school advertising and
recruitment materials.7
Requests for financial records
The bill requires chartered qualifying nonpublic schools to comply with requests
received from any person for the school’s financial records as though it were a school district
under Ohio public records law. This requirement is subject to state law on the confidentiality of
student information and the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 8 which
limit the release of personally identifiable information on students and student educational
records.9
3 Ohio Administrative Code 3301-92-04.
4 R.C. 3310.101.
5 R.C.117.10, not in the bill.
6 See R.C. 3301.0710, 3301.0712, and 3313.619, none in the bill.
7 R.C. 3301.167.
8 20 United States Code 1232g.
9 R.C. 3301.168; see also R.C. 149.43 and 3319.321, neither in the bill.
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As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
State report card
The bill requires the Department of Education and Workforce to develop a state report
card for chartered nonpublic schools using data the Department selects to create the rating
system. That state report card for chartered nonpublic schools must be similar to the state
report card that is issued for public schools. The Department must begin issuing state report
cards for chartered nonpublic schools in the school year that begins after the bill’s effective
date.10
The state report card system for public schools measures the academic performance of
school districts, individual buildings operated by districts, community schools, STEM schools,
and college-preparatory boarding schools. It has a rating system that uses “stars” to indicate a
district’s or school’s overall performance and performance for the individual components that
are factored into the overall rating.11 Most of the academic performance measures included on
the state report card for public schools are based on state assessment results of students
enrolled in a district or school. However, not every chartered nonpublic school administers
state assessments to its students.
Ed Choice student performance data
The bill requires the Department to post on its website the assessment performance
data of Ed Choice scholarship students by September 15 each year. It also must distribute that
data to the parents of students eligible for Ed Choice scholarships by that date. Under current
law, the Department must post and distribute that data by February 1 each year.12
State elementary assessments for chartered nonpublic schools
Threshold for testing all students
The bill decreases from 65% to 50% the threshold at which a school must administer
elementary assessments to all of its students.13
Current law generally requires chartered nonpublic schools to administer state
elementary assessments, or approved alternative assessments, to its students who participate
in state scholarship programs. However, if 65% or more of a school’s students attend it with a
state scholarship, the school must administer elementary assessments to all of its students.
Though, a nonscholarship student’s parent may opt the student out of that testing.
10 R.C. 3301.141.
11 R.C. 3302.03, not in the bill.
12 R.C. 3310.15(C).
13 R.C. 3301.0711(K)(1)(a).
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As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Waiver for a school serving students with disabilities
The bill eliminates a waiver that exempts qualifying chartered nonpublic schools from
the requirement to administer state elementary assessments. Under current law, the Director
of Education and Workforce must approve a waiver request submitted by a school if:
1. At least 95% of the school’s students are children with disabilities or children who have
a diagnosis by a physician or psychologist as having a condition that impairs academic
performance, such as dyslexia or specified other conditions;
2. The school has served that student population for at least ten years; and
3. The school provides to the Department of Education and Workforce at least five years of
records of internal testing conducted by the school that affords the Department with
data required for accountability purposes.14
As a result, under the bill, most chartered nonpublic schools must administer state
elementary assessments. The bill does not eliminate a similar law that exempts chartered
nonpublic schools that enroll a significant number of students with disabilities from the
requirement to administer the high school end-of-course exams.15
High school requirements for chartered nonpublic schools
State assessments
The bill modifies current law by requiring chartered nonpublic schools, including
Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) – accredited schools, to
administer the state’s high school end-of-course exams and the nationally standardized
assessment (ACT or SAT) to state scholarship students. In effect, it eliminates the current law
exceptions that state scholarship recipients may take only the ACT or SAT or an approved
alternative assessment.16
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 on the end-of-course exams in those subject areas 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 the end-of-course
exams.
14 R.C. 3301.0711(K)(2); conforming changes in R.C. 3310.03, 3310.14, 3310.522, and 3313.976.
15 R.C. 3301.0711(L)(4).
16 R.C. 3301.0711(L).
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As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
The bill limits that exception to students who are not participating in a state scholarship
program. Students participating in a state scholarship program must comply with the
graduation requirements prescribed for public school students.17
Posting aggregate data
The bill requires each chartered nonpublic school to post on its website aggregate data
regarding the results of the state assessments it administers, including the state elementary
assessments and the high school end-of-course exams.18
Nondiscrimination Policy
The bill prohibits the Director of Education and Workforce from granting a charter to a
nonpublic school unless the school does each of the following:
1. Submits an original, signed and notarized affidavit of intent not to discriminate;
2. Adopts and implements a racial nondiscriminatory policy that uses language required by
the Department and is submitted for approval on official school letterhead;
3. Includes the adopted racial nondiscriminatory policy in the school’s advertisement,
policies, handbooks, and manuals. The Department is required to verify that the policy is
in handbooks and manuals as part of the school’s application for a state charter.19
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 05-15-24
ANHB0575IN-135/ts
17 R.C. 3301.0711(L)(2) and 3313.619(E). See also R.C. 3313.618, not in the bill.
18 R.C. 3301.164.
19 R.C. 3301.166.
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As Introduced
Statutes affected: As Introduced: 3301.0711, 3301.16, 3301.164, 3310.03, 3310.14, 3310.15, 3310.522, 3313.619, 3313.976