OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 602* Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 602’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by House Public Health Policy
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Fowler Arthur
Effective date:
Meredith Bray, Attorney
Alyssa Bethel, Attorney
SUMMARY
▪ Defines home education learning pod.
▪ Exempts home education learning pods from child care regulations.
▪ Prohibits a county or township from restricting or limiting the location of home education
learning pods within any district/zone in the county or township.
▪ Prohibits a county or township from imposing additional or more stringent zoning
regulations on a building or residence based solely on its association with or use by a
home education learning pod.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Home education learning pods
The bill defines a home education learning pod as a voluntary association of parents who
direct their children’s education through home education. Parents participating in a pod choose
to group their children together in a home or other location at various times. This may include
hours when home education is not provided. The pod includes only the parents’ children who
are receiving home education, except that it also may include siblings or other children under the
care of the parents in the pod, regardless of age. The pod is required to have at least one parent
of any of the children participating in the pod on the premises while the pod is meeting.1 Under
current law, such arrangements could be considered child care and may be subject to licensure
This analysis was prepared before the report of the House Public Health Policy Committee appeared in
the House Journal. Note that the legislative history may be incomplete.
1
R.C. 5104.01(V).
November 22, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
and regulation as a child care center or family child care home. The bill exempts home education
learning pods from those requirements.2
Zoning
The bill prohibits a county or township from restricting or limiting the location of home
education learning pods within any district/zone in the county or township, and from imposing
additional or more stringent zoning regulations on a building or residence based solely on its
association with or use by a home education learning pod. Counties and townships would still
have the authority to require a building or residence used by a pod to comply with zoning
requirements that would otherwise apply to the building or residence if it was not associated
with or used by a pod.3
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 05-20-24
Reported, H. Public Health Policy ---
ANHB0602RH-135/sb
2
R.C. 5104.02.
3
R.C. 303.215 and 519.215.
P a g e |2 H.B. 602
As Introduced


Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 5104.01, 5104.02, 5104.38