OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 229 Final Analysis
134th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 229’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Passed by the General Assembly
Primary Sponsor: Sen. Blessing
Effective date: Emergency: December 14, 2021; conforming change related to financial literacy
instruction in R.C. 3314.03 effective January 27, 2022
Effective Date:
Allison Schoeppner, Research Analyst
SUMMARY
Blended learning for the 2021-2022 school year
 Permits a school district, other public school, or chartered nonpublic school to submit to
the Department of Education a declaration to implement or discontinue use of a
blended learning model during the 2021-2022 school year by April 30, 2022.
 Requires the Department to post a list of districts and schools that have submitted a
blended learning model declaration during the 2021-2022 school year on its website.
 Provides specific operating requirements for districts and schools that implement
blended learning for any portion of the 2021-2022 school year.
Blended learning definition
 Revises the permanent law definition of blended learning to add “noncomputer-based
learning opportunities.”
Remote learning for the 2021-2022 school year
 Permits a school district, other public school, or chartered nonpublic school to adopt a
resolution to continue to provide instruction using the school’s remote learning plan for
the 2021-2022 school year.
 Requires a district or school that adopts a resolution to notify the Department of that
decision by December 15, 2021.
 Requires a school or district that continues to offer remote instruction to update its
remote learning plan with specific requirements.
January 4, 2022
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COVID remediation plans
 Requires each school district and other public school to submit to the Department a
remediation plan to address the loss of learning students experienced during the COVID-
19 pandemic, unless the district or school previously submitted an Extended Learning
Plan or Local Use of Funds Plan.
 Requires the Department to develop standards and a template for remediation plans.
 Requires the Department to compile the remediation plans and submit a report to the
General Assembly.
State report cards
 Adds two school district superintendents, a school principal, and a community school
representative, appointed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to the State
Report Card Review Committee and requires majority party members appointed from
the House of Representatives and the Senate to serve as committee co-chairpersons.
 Prohibits the Department from considering performance on the chronic absenteeism
measure on the state report card for the 2021-2022 school year.
 Requires the Department to report without a rating the four-year adjusted cohort
graduation rate on the state report card for students who were continuously enrolled in
the same district or building for grades 9-12.
 Requires the Department to calculate and publish the continuously enrolled four-year
adjusted cohort graduation rate and the total number of students in each cohort for all
districts and buildings for the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, and 2020-
2021 school years on state report cards for the 2021-2022 school year.
Online services for special education students
 Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, upon the request of a parent or guardian,
permits an individual who holds a valid license issued by a licensing board to provide
services via electronic delivery method or telehealth communication to special
education students.
Quarantined students
 For the 2021-2022 school year only, permits a school or district operating an online
learning school to allow a quarantined student to participate in the online learning
school for the duration of the student’s quarantine period.
 For the 2021-2022 school year, requires districts and schools to report monthly to the
Department the number of students quarantined and the duration of the quarantine.
Withdrawal of students for failure to take assessments
 Revises the law requiring automatic withdrawal of students from internet- or computer-
based community schools (e-schools) and district-operated internet- or computer-based
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schools for failure to take state assessments, so that that new starting point for
considering two years of failure to take the assessments is the 2021-2022 school year.
Financial literacy instruction
 Reinstates law requiring public and chartered nonpublic schools to integrate the study
of economics and financial literacy into one or more existing social studies credits, or
into the content of another class, for students who enter ninth grade for the first time
prior to July 1, 2022 (classes up to the Class of 2025).
Third Grade Reading Guarantee exemption
 For the 2021-2022 school year only, exempts public and chartered nonpublic schools
from retaining a student under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee based solely on the
student’s academic performance.
Exemption from emergency management plan requirement
 Exempts an online learning school from the requirement that school administrators
develop an emergency management plan for each building under their control, unless
students participate in in-person instruction or assessments at a location that is not
covered in a district’s or school’s existing emergency management plan.
Educational service center state subsidies
 Revises the “funding base” used to determine state payments to educational service
centers (ESCs) to the amount the ESC would have received for FY 2020 using the student
counts of the school districts with which the ESC has service agreements in the fiscal
year for which payments are being made.
Educational Choice and Cleveland scholarship payments
 Specifies that, in the case of a student who is not living with the student’s parent, the
Department must make Educational Choice (Ed Choice) Scholarship and Pilot Project
(Cleveland) Scholarship payments to the student’s guardian, legal custodian, kinship
caregiver, foster caregiver, or caretaker.
 Requires the Department to make monthly partial payments for the Cleveland
Scholarship, rather than “from time to time in partial payments” as under prior law.
 Adds to the definition of “caretaker” to include any responsible adult (other than a
parent or relative) who has care of the child and, if not for being in that adult’s care, the
child would be homeless or likely homeless.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Blended learning for the 2021-2022 school year ........................................................................... 4
Blended learning requirements for the 2021-2022 school year ................................................. 5
Additional provisions for community schools ........................................................................ 5
Definition of blended learning ........................................................................................................ 6
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Remote learning for the 2021-2022 school year ............................................................................ 6
Remote learning requirements for the 2021-2022 school year ................................................. 7
COVID remediation plans................................................................................................................ 7
State report cards ........................................................................................................................... 8
State Report Card Review Committee membership ................................................................... 8
Chronic absenteeism measure .................................................................................................... 8
Four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate ................................................................................ 8
Online services for special education students .............................................................................. 9
Quarantined students ..................................................................................................................... 9
Online learning school option ..................................................................................................... 9
Monthly report of students in quarantine .................................................................................. 9
Withdrawal of students for failure to take assessments .............................................................. 10
Financial literacy instruction ......................................................................................................... 10
Third Grade Reading Guarantee exemption ................................................................................. 10
Exemption from emergency management plan requirement ..................................................... 11
Educational service center state subsidies ................................................................................... 11
Educational Choice and Cleveland scholarship payments ............................................................ 11
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Blended learning for the 2021-2022 school year
For the 2021-2022 school year only, the act permits a school district, community school
with approval of its sponsor, STEM school, or chartered nonpublic school to submit to the
Department of Education, by April 30, 2022, a declaration to implement or discontinue use of a
blended learning model during that school year. The act specifically states that the decision to
implement or rescind use of a blended learning model is not subject to approval by the
Department. It also requires the Department to post a list of districts and schools that have
submitted a blended learning model declaration during the 2021-2022 school year on its
website.1
Otherwise, under continuing law, if a district or school uses or ceases using a blended
learning model, it must notify the Department of that fact by July 1 of the school year for which
the change is effective.2
1 Section 3(B) and (C).
2 R.C. 3302.41, not in the act.
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Blended learning requirements for the 2021-2022 school year
For the 2021-2022 school year, the act requires a district or school that implements a
blended learning model to do all of the following:3
1. Ensure that students have access to the internet and to devices students may use to
participate in online learning;
2. Provide a filtering device or install filtering software that protects against internet
access to materials that are obscene or harmful to juveniles on each computer provided
to students for instructional use;
3. Monitor and assess student achievement and progress and provide additional services if
necessary to improve student achievement;
4. Periodically communicate with parents or guardians regarding student progress;
5. Report quarterly to the Department the number of students participating in blended
learning and the duration of their participation;
6. By May 15, 2022, report to the Department both:
a. The total number of students engaged in blended learning by grade level; and
b. The total number of students with disabilities engaged in blended learning.
7. Comply with operating standards for blended learning as otherwise prescribed under
continuing law by the State Board of Education.4
Additional provisions for community schools
For the 2021-2022 school year, the act specifies that a community school that
implements a blended learning model for any portion of that school year must be considered as
having met any requirements to receive state funds as otherwise prescribed by law. 5 For
example, continuing law requires any school using a blended learning model to have an
instructional calendar of at least 910 hours, but separately the Community School Law specifies
that a community school must offer at least 920 hours of learning opportunities and its full-
time equivalency for funding purposes is the actual number of learning opportunities it offers. 6
Presumably, the act permits full funding for any community school student in a blended
learning program as long as the student participates in 910 hours of instruction.
The act also requires a community school, by June 30, 2022, to complete any revisions
to the contract with its sponsor to implement or discontinue blended learning. It further
3 Section 3(D).
4 See R.C. 3302.41(B), not in the act.
5 Section 3(E)(1).
6 R.C. 3302.41(B)(4) and 3314.08(H), neither in the act.
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requires that, by April 30, 2022, a community school adopt or make any other necessary
revisions to its policies.7
Definition of blended learning
The act revises the permanent law definition of blended learning to add “noncomputer-
based learning opportunities.”8
Remote learning for the 2021-2022 school year
For the 2021-2022 school year only, the act permits a school district, community school
with approval of its sponsor, STEM school, or chartered nonpublic school to adopt a resolution
to continue to provide instruction using the school’s remote learning plan submitted for the
2020-2021 school year under H.B. 164 of the 133rd General Assembly. But it may do so only for
those students whose parents or guardians submit a written request to the building principal.
Moreover, it specifically prohibits a district or school already operating as an online learning
school for the 2021-2022 school year, as permitted under law enacted in 2021, from using the
act’s provision.9
The act requires a district or school that adopts a resolution to notify the Department of
that decision by December 15, 2021. It specifically states that the decision to continue to offer
remote instruction is not subject to approval by the Department. The Department must post on
its website a list of districts and schools continuing to operate a remote learning plan for the
2021-2022 school year.10
As with its blending learning provision (described above), the act states that a
community school that continues to provide instruction under the remote learning plan must
be considered as having met any requirements to receive state funds as otherwise prescribed
by law.11
Finally, for the act’s purposes , “remote learning” is defined as “synchronous and
asynchronous instruction and educational activities that take place when the students and the
teachers are not physically present in a traditional classroom environment.”12
7 Section 3(E)(2) and (3).
8 R.C. 3301.079(J).
9 Section 4(B)(1). See R.C. 3302.42, not in the act.
10 Section 4(B)(2) and (C).
11 Section 4(F).
12 Section 4(A)(5).
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Remote learning requirements for the 2021-2022 school year
For the 2021-2022 school year, the act requires a school or district that continues to
offer remote instruction to update its H.B. 164 remote learning plan to do the following:13
1. Meet all minimum school year requirements prescribed under continuing law;
2. Ensure that students have access to the internet and to devices students may use to
participate in online learnin