Energy bill signed by governor
Gov. Ted Strickland signed Senate Bill (SB) 221, sponsored by Sen. Robert Schuler (R-Cincinnati), into law on May 1 after weeks of negotiations with legislative leaders. The legislation will change the way Ohio’s electric utility companies will be regulated.
SB 221 will have an impact on school districts and the rates they pay for electricity. OSBA worked with the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials to ensure school districts have access to the best electricity rates, especially when purchasing electricity through a third party.
The Education Tax Policy Institute was instrumental in helping the education organizations understand the complicated provisions of the legislation and we were able to hire an energy specialist to help us understand the intricacies of the bill and develop a proposal for special consideration for school districts.
The groups testified before the House Public Utilities Committee and sent a letter to House Speaker Jon Husted (R-Kettering) urging full by-passability for all generation-related charges for school districts that choose to purchase electricity on the open market. By-passability means that schools could by-pass all charges not related to the transmission and distribution of electricity. Copies of the documents are available at www.osba-ohio.org/advocacy.htm.
The final bill allows school districts to enter into special contracts for electricity rates.
Issues related to the energy industry are complicated, and the provisions in SB 221 are no exception. We are currently working with the energy expert to provide a detailed analysis of the final bill and its impact on school districts.
Senate passes educator misconduct legislation
The Senate passed SB 270, sponsored by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester), one of the latest pieces of legislation to address educator misconduct. A similar bill, House Bill (HB) 428, sponsored by Rep. Arlene Setzer (R-Vandalia), is currently being heard in the House Education Committee. It is still unclear at this time which bill will be the vehicle for the final legislation.
OSBA presented interested-party testimony on SB 270 with other education organizations and requested several changes to the bill. A copy of the testimony is available at www.osba-ohio.org/advocacy.htm. Both SB 270 and HB 428 were modified to include many of the changes we requested. A major change addresses background checks for private contractors. Under the bills, only contractors who are providing essential school services, as defined by the district’s superintendent, and who are routinely interacting with, or have regular responsibility for, students will be required to have background checks. An alternative to the background check requirement for these contractors would be to have a school employee in the room with the contractor.
HB 428 and SB 270 also would do the following:
- Automatically revoke the license of any educator who commits one of more than 80 offenses. The offenses are the same crimes that are bars to licensure.
- Require school districts to remove an employee from the classroom if he or she is arrested for any of the disqualifying offenses.
- Designate who is liable for reporting misconduct to the Ohio Department of Education.
- Establish penalties for failing to report the misconduct.
- Provide civil immunity for individuals who make good-faith reports about licensed educators.
- Establish civil and criminal penalties for individuals who
knowingly make false reports of alleged misconduct.
- Set an annual deadline of Sept. 5 for employers to initiate criminal records checks for their employees who are due for their regular five-year check. This provision only applies to nonlicensed employees who are not bus drivers.
The OSBA legislative division will continue to monitor the progress of both HB 428 and SB 270 and update members as the status changes.
Local government study legislation
HB 521, co-sponsored by Reps. Larry Wolpert (R-Hilliard) and Larry Flowers (R-Canal Winchester), would create the Ohio Commission on Local Government nReform and Collaboration to develop recommendations for reforming and restructuring local government in Ohio.
Under the bill, the proposed commission would study local governments and make recommendations to consolidate or eliminate local government officers or any quasi-government entity that has taxing authority. The goal is to explore efficiencies and cost savings to the local taxpayer. The commission would report back to the General Assembly by July 1, 2010.
The study would be modeled after a similar study conducted in Indiana. Although HB 521 simply creates a study on the feasibility of reforming local governments, it is worth noting that the Indiana study recommended reorganizing school districts to achieve a minimum student population of 2,000.
The bill is currently being heard in the House Local and Municipal Government and Urban Revitalization Committee.
For the latest legislative updates, please contact the OSBA legislative division at (614) 540-4000; or (800) 589-OSBA.
Editor's Note: All information in this article was current as of May 2, 2008.
