As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 715

2025-2026

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;

(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;

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.