As Introduced
135th General Assembly
Regular Session H. B. No. 561
2023-2024
Representatives Brennan, Sims
Cosponsors: Representatives Brown, Dell'Aquila, McNally, Robinson, Russo,
Somani
A BILL
To amend sections 3314.01, 3314.02, 3314.032, and 1
3314.05 and to enact section 3314.0111 of the 2
Revised Code to prohibit for-profit operators of 3
community schools. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 3314.01, 3314.02, 3314.032, and 5
3314.05 be amended and section 3314.0111 of the Revised Code be 6
enacted to read as follows: 7
Sec. 3314.01. (A)(1) A board of education may permit all 8
or part of any of the schools under its control, upon request of 9
a proposing person or group and provided the person or group 10
meets the requirements of this chapter, to become a community 11
school. 12
(2) Any person or group of individuals may propose the 13
creation of a community school pursuant to the provisions of 14
this chapter. No nonpublic chartered or nonchartered school in 15
existence on January 1, 1997, is eligible to become a community 16
school under this chapter. 17
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(B) (B)(1) A community school created under this chapter 18
is a public school, independent of any school district, and is 19
part of the state's program of education. 20
(2) Notwithstanding division (B)(1) of this section, and 21
subject to section 3314.032 of the Revised Code, on or after 22
July 1, 2026, a community school with a for-profit operator no 23
longer qualifies as a public school under this chapter. 24
(C) A community school may sue and be sued, acquire 25
facilities as needed, contract for any services necessary for 26
the operation of the school, and enter into contracts with a 27
sponsor pursuant to this chapter. The governing authority of a 28
community school may carry out any act and ensure the 29
performance of any function that is in compliance with the Ohio 30
Constitution, this chapter, other statutes applicable to 31
community schools, and the contract entered into under this 32
chapter establishing the school. 33
Sec. 3314.0111. Not later than January 1, 2025, a for- 34
profit operator or management company of a community school 35
shall notify the governing authority of each community school 36
with which the operator has a contract regarding its decision to 37
comply with the requirement under division (A)(8) of section 38
3314.02 of the Revised Code to become a nonprofit organization 39
by July 1, 2026, or the date on which the contract for operation 40
of the school is subject to renewal. If a for-profit operator or 41
management company does not comply with this requirement: 42
(A) The governing authority shall identify an educational 43
service center to act as the new operator of the community 44
school not later than July 1, 2025, and notify the school's 45
sponsor of this decision. 46
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As Introduced
(B) The governing authority shall notify the parents of 47
current and prospective students regarding the new operator. 48
If a governing authority fails to identify an educational 49
service center to act as the new operator of the community 50
school by July 1, 2025, the school shall close by the end of the 51
2025-2026 school year or by the end of the last school year 52
covered by the current operator contract. 53
Sec. 3314.02. (A) As used in this chapter: 54
(1) "Sponsor" means the board of education of a school 55
district or the governing board of an educational service center 56
that agrees to the conversion of all or part of a school or 57
building under division (B) of this section, or an entity listed 58
in division (C)(1) of this section, which has been approved by 59
the department of education and workforce to sponsor community 60
schools or is exempted by section 3314.021 or 3314.027 of the 61
Revised Code from obtaining approval, and with which the 62
governing authority of a community school enters into a contract 63
under section 3314.03 of the Revised Code. 64
(2) "Pilot project area" means the school districts 65
included in the territory of the former community school pilot 66
project established by former Section 50.52 of Am. Sub. H.B. No. 67
215 of the 122nd general assembly. 68
(3) "Challenged school district" means any of the 69
following: 70
(a) A school district that is part of the pilot project 71
area; 72
(b) A school district that meets one of the following 73
conditions: 74
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(i) On March 22, 2013, the district was in a state of 75
academic emergency or in a state of academic watch under section 76
3302.03 of the Revised Code, as that section existed prior to 77
March 22, 2013; 78
(ii) For two of the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 79
2015-2016 school years, the district received a grade of "D" or 80
"F" for the performance index score and a grade of "F" for the 81
value-added progress dimension under section 3302.03 of the 82
Revised Code; 83
(iii) For the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 84
and 2020-2021 school years, the district has received an overall 85
grade of "D" or "F" under division (C)(3) of section 3302.03 of 86
the Revised Code, or, for at least two of the three most recent 87
school years, the district received a grade of "F" for the 88
value-added progress dimension under division (C)(1)(e) of that 89
section; 90
(iv) For the 2021-2022 school year and for any school year 91
thereafter, the district has received an overall performance 92
rating of less than three stars under division (D)(3) of section 93
3302.03 of the Revised Code, or, for at least two of the three 94
most recent school years, the district received one star for 95
progress under division (D)(3)(c) of that section. 96
(c) A big eight school district; 97
(d) A school district ranked in the lowest five per cent 98
of school districts according to performance index score under 99
section 3302.21 of the Revised Code. 100
(4) "Big eight school district" means a school district 101
that for fiscal year 1997 had both of the following: 102
(a) A percentage of children residing in the district and 103
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participating in the predecessor of Ohio works first greater 104
than thirty per cent, as reported pursuant to section 3317.10 of 105
the Revised Code; 106
(b) An average daily membership greater than twelve 107
thousand, as reported pursuant to former division (A) of section 108
3317.03 of the Revised Code. 109
(5) "New start-up school" means a community school other 110
than one created by converting all or part of an existing public 111
school or educational service center building, as designated in 112
the school's contract pursuant to division (A)(17) of section 113
3314.03 of the Revised Code. 114
(6) "Urban school district" means one of the state's 115
twenty-one urban school districts as defined in division (O) of 116
section 3317.02 of the Revised Code as that section existed 117
prior to July 1, 1998. 118
(7) "Internet- or computer-based community school" means a 119
community school established under this chapter in which the 120
enrolled students work primarily from their residences on 121
assignments in nonclassroom-based learning opportunities 122
provided via an internet- or other computer-based instructional 123
method that does not rely on regular classroom instruction or 124
via comprehensive instructional methods that include internet- 125
based, other computer-based, and noncomputer-based learning 126
opportunities unless a student receives career-technical 127
education under section 3314.086 of the Revised Code. 128
A community school that operates mainly as an internet- or 129
computer-based community school and provides career-technical 130
education under section 3314.086 of the Revised Code shall be 131
considered an internet- or computer-based community school, even 132
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if it provides some classroom-based instruction, so long as it 133
provides instruction via the methods described in this division. 134
(8) "Operator" or "management company" means either of the 135
following: 136
(a) An individual or a nonprofit organization or governing 137
board of an educational service center that manages does either 138
of the following: 139
(a) Manages the daily operations of a community school 140
pursuant to a contract between the operator or management 141
company and the school's governing authority; 142
(b) A nonprofit organization that provides Provides 143
programmatic oversight and support to a community school under a 144
contract with the school's governing authority and that retains 145
the right to terminate its affiliation with the school if the 146
school fails to meet the organization's operator's or management 147
company's quality standards. 148
(9) "Alliance municipal school district" has the same 149
meaning as in section 3311.86 of the Revised Code. 150
(B)(1) Any person or group of individuals may initially 151
propose under this division the conversion of all or a portion 152
of a public school to a community school. The proposal shall be 153
made to the board of education of the city, local, exempted 154
village, or joint vocational school district in which the public 155
school is proposed to be converted. 156
(2) Any person or group of individuals may initially 157
propose under this division the conversion of all or a portion 158
of a building operated by an educational service center to a 159
community school. The proposal shall be made to the governing 160
board of the service center. 161
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On or after July 1, 2017, except as provided in section 162
3314.027 of the Revised Code, any educational service center 163
that sponsors a community school shall be approved by and enter 164
into a written agreement with the department as described in 165
section 3314.015 of the Revised Code. 166
(3) Upon receipt of a proposal, and after an agreement has 167
been entered into pursuant to section 3314.015 of the Revised 168
Code, a board may enter into a preliminary agreement with the 169
person or group proposing the conversion of the public school or 170
service center building, indicating the intention of the board 171
to support the conversion to a community school. A proposing 172
person or group that has a preliminary agreement under this 173
division may proceed to finalize plans for the school, establish 174
a governing authority for the school, and negotiate a contract 175
with the board. Provided the proposing person or group adheres 176
to the preliminary agreement and all provisions of this chapter, 177
the board shall negotiate in good faith to enter into a contract 178
in accordance with section 3314.03 of the Revised Code and 179
division (C) of this section. 180
(4) The sponsor of a conversion community school proposed 181
to open in an alliance municipal school district shall be 182
subject to approval by the department of education and workforce 183
for sponsorship of that school using the criteria established 184
under division (A) of section 3311.87 of the Revised Code. 185
Division (B)(4) of this section does not apply to a 186
sponsor that, on or before September 29, 2015, was exempted 187
under section 3314.021 or 3314.027 of the Revised Code from the 188
requirement to be approved for sponsorship under divisions (A) 189
(2) and (B)(1) of section 3314.015 of the Revised Code. 190
(5) A school established in accordance with division (B) 191
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of this section that later enters into a sponsorship contract 192
with an entity that is not a school district or educational 193
service center shall, at the time of entering into the new 194
contract, be deemed a community school established in accordance 195
with division (C) of this section. 196
(C)(1) Provided all other conditions of sponsorship and 197
governance are satisfied, any person or group of individuals may 198
propose under this division the establishment of a new start-up 199
school regardless of the school's proposed location. The 200
proposal may be made to any of the following entities: 201
(a) The board of education of the district in which the 202
school is proposed to be located; 203
(b) The board of education of any joint vocational school 204
district with territory in the county in which is located the 205
majority of the territory of the district in which the school is 206
proposed to be located; 207
(c) The board of education of any other city, local, or 208
exempted village school district having territory in the same 209
county where the district in which the school is proposed to be 210
located has the major portion of its territory; 211
(d) The governing board of any educational service center, 212
regardless of the location of the proposed school, may sponsor a 213
new start-up school if all of the following are satisfied: 214
(i) If applicable, it satisfies the requirements of 215
division (E) of section 3311.86 of the Revised Code; 216
(ii) It is approved to do so by the department; 217
(iii) It enters into an agreement w