Ohio Supreme Court Remands Eighth District Decision Denying Arbitration of Union’s Termination Grievance
Ohio Council 8, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v. Lakewood, Slip Opinion No. 2025-Ohio-2052. Decided June 12, 2025 A City of Lakewood employee was fired for misconduct while under a last chance agreement. The last chance agreement was entered into after the employee was terminated...
Special Eduction Update: No Shots, No Services: Noncompliance Defeats Parent’s Due Process Complaint
New Fairfield Bd. of Educ., 125 LRP 10684 (SEA CT 03/28/25). A Connecticut school district did not have to defend its refusal to provide IDEA services in a non-school setting after a preschool student with disabilities was disenrolled based on state vaccination...
Elimination of Property Tax Proposal Moves Forward
On May 14, 2025, the Ohio Ballot Board voted to certify a proposed constitutional amendment from Citizens for Property Tax Reform to ban property taxes in the state of Ohio. Many individuals joined the group after receiving letters related to the state-mandated...
Unanimous Supreme Court Decision in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools Lowers Standard for 504 Discrimination Damages Cases
On June 12, 2025, the Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools regarding the standard of proof for Section 504 discrimination lawsuits for damages filed against school districts. In this case, the student is a teenage girl who...
Ohio Supreme Court Upholds School Board’s Authority to Suspend Administrative Contracts under Local Policy
On May 1, 2025, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued a decision in State ex rel. Ruble v. Switzerland of Ohio Local School Dist. Bd. of Edn., 2025-Ohio-1510, affirming the Seventh District Court of Appeals' denial of a writ of mandamus sought by four former school...
Special Education Update: Lawsuit Challenges Constitutionality of Section 504, Seeking to Block Protection of Gender Dysphoria
In September of 2024, 17 states filed a lawsuit challenging gender dysphoria as a protected disability under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 29 U.S.C. § 794. However, the lawsuit challenged Section 504 broadly as unconstitutional and, at least initially, sought...
Career Tech Corner: U.S. House of Representatives Pondering Funding Increase for Career Technical Education
Two U.S. Representatives, Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), began to circulate a Dear Colleague Letter (the “Letter”) throughout the House of Representatives that urged lawmakers to consider an increase in funding for Career Technical...
Federal Budget Proposal: Understanding the Potential Impacts on Education Funding
On May 2, the Trump Administration took its first formal step in the federal budget process by submitting its "skinny budget" proposal to Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. This initial outline gives education leaders their first...
SB33 Allows Employers to Post Labor Law Notices Online
Ohio recently passed SB33, which goes into effect on July 21, 2025. This law makes changes to the requirement for employers to post labor law notices and will now allow them to be posted online. Previously, employers were required to post labor law notices in a...
ODEW Updates Model Policies and Seeks Input on Revised Forms
On April 4, 2025, ODEW re-released its Special Education Model Policies with changes that were adopted with input from school board attorneys such as your team at Ennis Britton and the Ohio Council of School Board Attorneys (“OCSBA”). These changes follow the decision...
Special Education Update: Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education Closes Six Regional Offices
With the release of the March 11, 2025 Organizational Chart, the Federal Administration announced the closing of six regional offices of the Office for Civil Rights, the agency designated to oversee and investigate allegations of discriminatory conduct in schools,...
HB 106: Paystub Protection Act To Require Detailed Paystubs
House Bill 106, the Paystub Protection Act, just recently went into effect April 9 and will require that employers provide detailed pay statements to employees on regular paydays. While employers may already be providing pay statements, there is a new level of detail...
OEC Reaffirms Family Hiring Restrictions, Expands Definition to Include Domestic Partners
In their first formal advisory opinion of the year, the Ohio Ethics Commission (OEC) expanded the definition of family member to include domestic partnerships. A “domestic partner” includes a person who is living with the public official or employee in a common law...
2024 Wage Settlement Report: A Look at Schools Wage Increases
School Employee Average Wage Increase Overall: The Ohio State Employment Relations Board (SERB) released the annual wage settlement report for 2024 on March 1, 2025. The report shows wages increased more in 2024 than in any other year since 2015, nearly across the...
U.S. Department of Education Releases FAQ on February 14, 2025 Dear Colleague Letter Regarding Ending Racial Preferences, Demands that States and Public Schools Certify Compliance
The U.S. Department of Education (the "Department") has mandated that all Local Education Agencies (LEAs), which include public school districts, provide certification of their compliance with certain legal obligations described in an April 3rd document titled...
Career Tech Corner: Private Business Partnerships and Their Potential Impact on Students
Career-technical education is a vital part of Ohio’s system of public education for students in grades seven through twelve. As public education entities that receive federal funds, CTCs are prohibited from discriminating against their students on the basis of a...
U.S. Department of Education Gives Until February 28 to Comply with New Federal Anti-Discrimination Orders of Risk Loss of Funding
The U.S. Department of Education (“Department”) sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter (“Letter”) on February 14, 2025, detailing the federal government’s order for schools to “cease using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in their admissions, hiring,...
Special Education Update: Autism and Jon Peterson Scholarships Will Not Fund Home-Education After Age 18
According to a recent email from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW), as of July 1, 2025, students who are home-educated using either the Autism or Jon Peterson scholarships will no longer qualify for the scholarships following the year during...
HB8 “Parents’ Bill of Rights”: What You Need to Know
Governor DeWine signed House Bill 8 on January 8, 2025, and the law goes into effect on April 9, 2025. This bill, known as the “Parents' Bill of Rights” not only adds to the decisions that parents can make regarding their children’s education but also contains new...
Special Education Update: Abrupt Changes to Ohio’s New Procedural Safeguards Rule Leave Educational Agencies in a Strange Place
On the spur of the moment, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (“ODEW”) refiled it’s new Ohio Operating Standards rule governing procedural safeguards. This meteoric move modifies the effective date from July 1, 2025 to January 24, 2025. The changes have...
Navigating SB 29: What’s New for Educators Following a Series of Lame Duck Amendments
Senate Bill 29 has caused its fair share of headaches since it went into effect in October. Passing out some much-needed proverbial ibuprofen, the state legislature passed an amendment that took effect immediately on December 9, 2024. The amendments included numerous...