Regards chartered nonpublic school EdChoice scholarship reporting

As Introduced

136th
General Assembly

Regular
Session
H. B. No. 715

2025-2026

Representatives Manning, Odioso

To
amend sections 3310.15 and 3310.16 and to enact section 3301.165 of
the Revised Code
regarding
chartered nonpublic schools EdChoice scholarship reporting.

BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section
1.
That
sections 3310.15 and 3310.16 be amended and section 3301.165 of the
Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec.
3301.165.
(A)
As used in this section:

(1)
"Adjusted gross income" has the same meaning as in section
5747.01 of the Revised Code.

(2)
"Federal poverty guidelines" has the same meaning as in
section 5101.46 of the Revised Code.

(3)
"Community school" means a community school established
under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code.

(4)
"Scholarship student" means a student who is participating
in a state scholarship program.

(5)
"State scholarship programs" has the same meaning as in
section 3301.0711 of the Revised Code.

(6)
"STEM school" means a STEM school established under Chapter
3326. of the Revised Code.

(B)
The department of education and workforce shall establish a system by
which an individual may compare the performance data of scholarship
students enrolled in a chartered nonpublic school with the
performance data of similar students enrolled in the school district
in which the school is located or a community school, STEM school, or
other chartered nonpublic school in that district. The department
shall make the system available on its publicly accessible web site.

In
calculating the performance of similar students under this section,
the department shall consider age, grade, race and ethnicity, gender,
and socioeconomic status.

(C)(1)
Annually, the department shall post on its publicly accessible web
site the number of students who receive an educational choice
scholarship under section 3310.032 of the Revised Code and, as the
data is available, students who receive educational choice
scholarships under section 3310.03 of the Revised Code and the pilot
project scholarship program established under sections 3313.974 to
3313.979 of the Revised Code disaggregated according to the following
categories:

(a)
Students with a family adjusted gross income at or below four hundred
fifty per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(b)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above four hundred fifty
per cent of the federal poverty guidelines, but at or below five
hundred per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(c)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above five hundred per
cent of the federal poverty guidelines, but at or below five hundred
fifty per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(d)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above five hundred fifty
per cent of the federal poverty guidelines, but at or below six
hundred per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(e)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above six hundred per
cent of the federal poverty guidelines, but at or below six hundred
fifty per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(f)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above six hundred fifty
per cent of the federal poverty guidelines, but at or below seven
hundred per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(g)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above seven hundred per
cent of the federal poverty guidelines, but at or below seven hundred
fifty per cent of the federal poverty guidelines;

(h)
Students with a family adjusted gross income above seven hundred
fifty per cent of the federal poverty guidelines.

The
department may disaggregate data under division (C)(1) of this
section according to other categories that the department determines
are appropriate.

(2)
The department of education and workforce shall request from the
department of taxation any data necessary for the department of
education and workforce to compute and post data as required under
division (C)(1) of this section.

(D)
Annually, the department of education and workforce shall post on its
publicly accessible web site all of the following for each chartered
nonpublic school:

(1)
The school's total enrollment;

(2)
The number of scholarship students enrolled in the school,
disaggregated by whether, in the prior school year, the students were
enrolled in one of the following:

(a)
That school;

(b)
A different chartered nonpublic school;

(c)
A nonchartered nonpublic school;

(d)
A city, local, or exempted village school district;

(e)
A community school;

(f)
A STEM school;

(g)
If the student was not enrolled in a district or school in the prior
school year, whether either of the following apply to the student:

(i)
The student, in the prior school year, was exempted from attendance
at school for the purpose of home education under section 3321.042 of
the Revised Code.

(ii)
The student, in the current school year, is enrolling in school in
this state for the first time.

(3)
The total amount of state support received by the school through all
of the following:

(a)
State scholarship programs;

(b)
Auxiliary services payments as described under division (E) of
section 3317.024 of the Revised Code;

(c)
Administrative and clerical services cost reimbursements as described
in section 3317.063 of the Revised Code.

Sec.
3310.15.
(A)
The department of education and workforce annually shall compile the
scores attained by scholarship students to whom an assessment is
administered under section 3310.14 of the Revised Code. The scores
shall be aggregated as follows:

(1)
By state, which shall include all students awarded a scholarship
under the educational choice scholarship pilot program and who were
required to take an assessment under section 3310.14 of the Revised
Code;

(2)
By school district, which shall include all scholarship students who
were required to take an assessment under section 3310.14 of the
Revised Code and for whom the district is the student's resident
district;

(3)
By chartered nonpublic school, which shall include all scholarship
students enrolled in that school who were required to take an
assessment under section 3310.14 of the Revised Code.

(B)
The department shall disaggregate the student performance data
described in division (A) of this section according to the following
categories:

(1)
Grade level;

(2)
Race and ethnicity;

(3)
Gender;

(4)
Students who have participated in the scholarship program for three
or more years;

(5)
Students who have participated in the scholarship program for more
than one year and less than three years;

(6)
Students who have participated in the scholarship program for one
year or less;

(7)
Economically disadvantaged students.

(C)
The department shall post the student performance data required under
divisions (A) and (B) of this section on its web site and, by the

first

fifteenth

day
of
February

September
or the preceding Friday when that day falls on a Saturday or Sunday

each
year, shall distribute that data to the parent of each eligible
student. In reporting student performance data under this division,
the department shall not include any data that is statistically
unreliable or that could result in the identification of individual
students. For this purpose, the department shall not report
performance data for any group that contains less than ten students.

Not
later than July 1, 2025, the department shall develop a measure of
student growth for scholarship students enrolled in chartered
nonpublic schools. The measure of student growth shall be used to
report data annually on student growth for students in grades four
through eight during the school year in which data is reported. No
data shall be reported for schools with fewer than ten scholarship
students. The department shall make the growth reports available on
its publicly accessible web site.

(D)
The department shall provide the parent of each scholarship student
with information comparing the student's performance on the
assessments administered under section 3310.14 of the Revised Code
with the average performance of similar students enrolled in the
building operated by the student's resident district that the
scholarship student would otherwise attend. In calculating the
performance of similar students, the department shall consider age,
grade, race and ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Sec.
3310.16.
(A)
For the 2020-2021 school year and each school year thereafter, the
department of education and workforce shall accept, process, and
award scholarships each year for the educational choice scholarship
pilot program under sections 3310.03 and 3310.032 of the Revised
Code, as follows:

(1)
The application period shall open on the first day of February prior
to the first day of July of the school year for which a scholarship
is sought. Not later than forty-five days after an applicant submits
to the department of education and workforce a completed application,
the department shall determine whether that applicant is eligible for
a scholarship and notify the applicant whether or not the applicant
is eligible. The department shall award a scholarship to each student
with an approved application. However, for any application submitted
on or after the fifteenth day of October of the school year for which
a scholarship is sought, the department shall prorate the amount of
the awarded scholarship based on how much of the school year remains
after the date of the student's enrollment in the chartered nonpublic
school.

(2)
In each school year, the department shall accept applications for
conditional approval of a scholarship sought for that year or the
next school year. Not later than five days after receiving an
application under this division, the department shall grant
conditional approval to an applicant who is eligible for a
scholarship and notify the applicant whether or not conditional
approval is granted.

(B)
If the department determines an application submitted under this
section contains an error or deficiency, the department shall notify
the applicant who submitted that application not later than fourteen
days after the application is submitted.

(C)
The departments of education and workforce, job and family services,
and taxation shall enter into a data sharing agreement so that, in
administering this section, the department of education and workforce
shall be able to determine, based on the address provided in a
student's application, whether that student is eligible for an
educational choice scholarship under section 3310.03 of the Revised
Code and whether the student meets the residency requirements for an
educational choice scholarship under section 3310.032 of the Revised
Code.

(D)
No city, local, or exempted village school district shall have access
to an application submitted under this section.

(E)
The department shall require each applicant to include the school
and, if applicable the school district, in which the applicant is
enrolled, or that the student is receiving home education, for the
school year prior to the one for which an applicant submits an
application under this section.

Section
2.
That
existing sections 3310.15 and 3310.16 of the Revised Code are hereby
repealed.