As Reported by the House Education Committee

126th General Assembly
Regular Session
2005-2006
Sub. H. B. No. 115


Representatives Setzer, Reinhard, Webster, Carano, C. Evans, Chandler 



A BILL
To amend sections 3301.075, 3313.843, and 3319.17 and 1
to enact sections 3301.0713, 3312.01 to 3312.12, 2
and 3313.845 of the Revised Code to establish the 3
Educational Regional Service System and the EMIS 4
Advisory Board.5


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

       Section 1. That sections 3301.075, 3313.843, and 3319.17 be 6
amended and sections 3301.0713, 3312.01, 3312.02, 3312.03, 7
3312.04, 3312.05, 3312.06, 3312.07, 3312.08, 3312.09, 3312.10, 8
3312.11, 3312.12, and 3313.845 of the Revised Code be enacted to 9
read as follows:10

       Sec. 3301.075.  The state board of education shall adopt11
rules governing the purchasing and leasing of data processing12
services and equipment for all local, exempted village, city, and13
joint vocational school districts and all educational service14
centers. Such rules shall include provisions for the establishment 15
of an Ohio education computer network under procedures, 16
guidelines, and specifications of the department of education.17

       The department shall administer funds appropriated for the18
Ohio education computer network to ensure its efficient and19
economical operation and shall approve no more than twenty-seven20
data acquisition sites to operate concurrently. Such sites shall21
be approved for funding in accordance with rules of the state22
board adopted under this section that shall provide for the23
superintendent of public instruction to require the membership of24
each data acquisition site to be composed of combinations of25
school districts and educational service centers having sufficient 26
students to support an efficient, economical comprehensive program 27
of computer services to member districts and educational service 28
centers. However, no such rule shall prohibit a school district or 29
educational service center from receiving computer services from 30
any data acquisition site established under this section or from 31
any other public or private vendor. Each data acquisition site 32
shall be organized in accordance with section 3313.92 or Chapter 33
167. of the Revised Code.34

       The department of education may contract with an independent35
for profit or nonprofit entity to provide current and historical36
information on Ohio government through the Ohio education computer37
network to school district libraries operating in accordance with38
section 3375.14 of the Revised Code in order to assist school39
teachers in social studies course instruction and support student40
research projects. Any such contract shall be awarded in41
accordance with Chapter 125. of the Revised Code.42

       Sec. 3301.0713.  (A) The education management information 43
system advisory board is hereby established. The board shall make 44
recommendations to the department of education for improving the 45
operation of the education management information system 46
established under section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code. Topics 47
that may be addressed by the recommendations include the 48
definitions used for the data maintained in the system, reporting 49
deadlines, rules and guidelines for the operation of the system 50
adopted by the state board of education pursuant to section 51
3301.0714 of the Revised Code, and any other issues raised by 52
education personnel who work with the system.53

       (B) The board shall consist of the following members:54

       (1) Two members of the state board, appointed by the state 55
board;56

       (2) One person appointed by the Ohio educational service 57
center association;58

       (3) One person appointed by the buckeye association of school 59
administrators;60

       (4) One person appointed by the Ohio association of school 61
business officials;62

       (5) One person appointed by the Ohio association of EMIS 63
professionals;64

       (6) One representative of four-year institutions of higher 65
education, appointed by the Ohio board of regents;66

       (7) One representative of two-year institutions of higher 67
education, appointed by the Ohio association of community 68
colleges;69

       (8) Two representatives of the department, appointed by the 70
superintendent of public instruction;71

       (9) Two persons appointed by the management council of the 72
Ohio education computer network.73

       The chairpersons and ranking minority members of the 74
education committees of the senate and house of representatives, 75
or their designees, shall be ex officio, nonvoting members of the 76
board.77

        (C) Members of the board initially appointed under division 78
(B) of this section shall serve until January 1, 2008. Thereafter, 79
terms of office shall be for two years, each term ending on the 80
same day of the same month as did the term that it succeeds. Each 81
member shall hold office from the date of appointment until the 82
end of the term for which the member was appointed. Members may be 83
reappointed.84

       (D) Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the 85
original appointment. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy 86
occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which the 87
member's predecessor was appointed shall hold office for the 88
remainder of that term. Members shall receive no compensation for 89
their services.90

       (E) The chairpersons of the education committees of the 91
senate and house of representatives, or their designees, shall 92
alternate annually as chairperson of the board. The board shall 93
meet once every two months and at other times upon the call of the 94
chairperson.95

       (F) If at any time the education management information 96
system is replaced with a new system for collecting financial and 97
student performance data for school districts and buildings, the 98
board established by this section shall continue to function in 99
the manner prescribed by this section in relation to the new data 100
collection system after the new system is operational.101

       Sec. 3312.01.  The educational regional service system is 102
hereby established. The system shall support state and regional 103
education initiatives and efforts to improve school effectiveness 104
and student achievement. Services, including special education and 105
related services, shall be provided under the system to school 106
districts, community schools established under Chapter 3314. of 107
the Revised Code, and chartered nonpublic schools.108

       The system shall consist of the following:109

       (A) The state regional alliance advisory board established 110
under section 3312.11 of the Revised Code;111

       (B) The advisory councils and subcommittees established under 112
sections 3312.03 and 3312.05 of the Revised Code;113

       (C) A fiscal agent for each of the regions as configured 114
under section 3312.02 of the Revised Code;115

       (D) Educational service centers, data acquisition sites 116
established under section 3301.075 of the Revised Code, and other 117
regional education service providers.118

       Educational service centers shall provide the services that 119
they are specifically required to provide by the Revised Code and 120
may enter into agreements pursuant to section 3313.843, 3313.844, 121
or 3313.845 of the Revised Code for the provision of other 122
services. Any educational service center selected to be a fiscal 123
agent for its region pursuant to section 3312.07 of the Revised 124
Code shall continue to operate as an educational service center 125
for the part of the region that comprises its territory. Data 126
acquisition sites may enter into agreements for the provision of 127
services pursuant to section 3312.10 of the Revised Code.128

       No school district, community school, or chartered nonpublic 129
school shall be required to purchase services from an educational 130
service center or data acquisition site in the region in which the 131
district or school is located, except that a local school district 132
shall receive any services required by the Revised Code to be 133
provided by an educational service center to the local school 134
districts in its territory from the educational service center in 135
whose territory the district is located.136

       Sec. 3312.02.  There shall be the following sixteen regions 137
in the educational regional service system:138

       (A) Region one shall consist of the territory contained in 139
Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Paulding, Putnam, 140
Sandusky, Van Wert, Williams, and Wood counties.141

       (B) Region two shall consist of the territory contained in 142
Erie, Huron, Lorain, and Ottawa counties.143

       (C) Region three shall consist of the territory contained in 144
Cuyahoga county.145

       (D) Region four shall consist of the territory contained in 146
Geauga and Lake counties.147

       (E) Region five shall consist of the territory contained in 148
Ashtabula, Mahoning, and Trumbull counties.149

       (F) Region six shall consist of the territory contained in 150
Allen, Auglaize, Hardin, Logan, Mercer, and Shelby counties.151

       (G) Region seven shall consist of the territory contained in 152
Crawford, Knox, Marion, Morrow, Richland, Seneca, and Wyandot 153
counties.154

       (H) Region eight shall consist of the territory contained in 155
Ashland, Columbiana, Holmes, Stark, and Wayne counties.156

       (I) Region nine shall consist of the territory contained in 157
Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, and Preble counties.158

       (J) Region ten shall consist of the territory contained in 159
Champaign, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, 160
Pickaway, and Union counties.161

       (K) Region eleven shall consist of the territory contained in 162
Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, 163
Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, and Tuscarawas counties.164

       (L) Region twelve shall consist of the territory contained in 165
Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren counties.166

       (M) Region thirteen shall consist of the territory contained 167
in Brown, Clinton, Fayette, and Highland counties.168

       (N) Region fourteen shall consist of the territory contained 169
in Adams, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, and Scioto counties.170

       (O) Region fifteen shall consist of the territory contained 171
in Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Meigs, Perry, Vinton, and Washington 172
counties.173

       (P) Region sixteen shall consist of the territory contained 174
in Medina, Portage, and Summit counties.175

       If an educational service center has territory in more than 176
one region as designated under this section, the service center 177
and each local school district located in the service center's 178
territory shall be considered to be part of the region in which 179
the majority of the service center's territory is located and 180
shall not be considered to be part of any other region. If a city 181
or exempted village school district has territory in more than one 182
region as designated under this section, the district shall be 183
considered to be part of the region in which the majority of the 184
district's territory is located and shall not be considered to be 185
part of any other region.186

       Sec. 3312.03.  (A) Each region of the educational regional 187
service system shall have an advisory council. Except as provided 188
in division (F) of this section, each advisory council shall 189
consist of the following members and the members appointed under 190
division (B) of this section:191

       (1) The superintendent of each educational service center in 192
the region;193

       (2) The director of the special education regional resource 194
center in the region;195

       (3) The superintendent of the school district in the region 196
with the smallest student population;197

       (4) The superintendent of the school district in the region 198
with the largest student population;199

       (5) The director of each data acquisition site located in the 200
region;201

       (6) One representative of a four-year institution of higher 202
education located in the region, or in an adjacent region if there 203
is no such institution, appointed by the Ohio board of regents;204

       (7) One representative of a two-year institution of higher 205
education located in the region, or in an adjacent region if there 206
is no such institution, appointed by the Ohio association of 207
community colleges.208

       (B) The members of the advisory council listed in division 209
(A) of this section, upon a majority vote, shall appoint the 210
following members to serve on the council:211

       (1) One member of a board of education of a city school 212
district in the region;213

       (2) One member of a board of education of an exempted village 214
school district in the region;215

       (3) One member of a board of education of a local school 216
district in the region;217

       (4) One representative of business;218

       (5) One employee of an education technology center. However, 219
no education technology center shall have more than two employees 220
serving on advisory councils at the same time.221

       (C) Each advisory council annually shall elect a chairperson 222
and vice-chairperson from among its members.223

       (D) For two years after its initial meeting, each advisory 224
council shall hold regular meetings at least monthly to conduct 225
council business and may hold other meetings at the call of the 226
chairperson. Subsequently, all meetings shall be called by the 227
chairperson.228

       (E) Advisory council members shall receive no compensation 229
for their services.230

       (F) Any advisory council may increase its membership beyond 231
the members required by divisions (A) and (B) of this section by 232
adopting a resolution specifying the number of additional members, 233
their manner of appointment, and any eligibility criteria for 234
appointment.235

       Sec. 3312.04.  The advisory council of each region of the 236
educational regional service system shall do all of the following:237

       (A) Identify regional needs and priorities for educational 238
services;239

       (B) Develop policies to coordinate the delivery of services 240
to school districts, community schools, and chartered nonpublic 241
schools in a manner that responds to regional needs and 242
priorities;243

       (C) Make recommendations to the fiscal agent for the region 244
regarding the expenditure of funds available to the region for 245
implementation of state and regional education initiatives and 246
school improvement efforts;247

       (D) Monitor implementation of state and regional education 248
initiatives and school improvement efforts by educational service 249
centers, data acquisition sites, and other regional service 250
providers to ensure that the terms of the performance contracts 251
entered into by the fiscal agent for the region under section 252
3312.08 of the Revised Code are being met;253

       (E) Establish an accountability system to evaluate the 254
advisory council on its performance of the duties described in 255
divisions (A) to (D) of this section.256

       Sec. 3312.05.  (A) The advisory council of each region of the 257
educational regional service system shall establish the following 258
specialized subcommittees of the council:259

       (1) A school improvement subcommittee, which shall include 260
representatives of community schools and education personnel with 261
expertise in the area of school improvement;262

       (2) An education technology subcommittee, which shall include 263
classroom teachers or curriculum coordinators, parents, elementary 264
and secondary school principals, representatives of chartered 265
nonpublic schools, representatives of data acquisition sites, 266
representatives of business, and representatives of two-year and 267
four-year institutions of higher education;268

       (3) A professional development subcommittee, which shall 269
include classroom teachers, principals, school district 270
superintendents, curriculum coordinators, representatives of 271
chartered nonpublic schools, and representatives of two-year and 272
four-year institutions of higher education;273

       (4) A special education subcommittee, which shall consist of 274
the members of the governing board of the special education 275
regional resource center in the region;276

       (5) A data acquisition site subcommittee, which shall consist 277
of the members of the governing authority of each data acquisition 278
site located in the region.279

       (B) The advisory council shall appoint persons who reside or 280
practice their occupations in the region to serve on the 281
subcommittees established under divisions (A)(1) to (3) of this 282
section. If the advisory council is unable to appoint such a 283
person to a subcommittee, the council shall appoint a similarly 284
situated person from an adjacent region.285

       (C) An advisory council may establish additional 286
subcommittees as needed to address topics of interest to the 287
council. Members of any additional subcommittee shall be appointed 288
by the advisory council and shall include a diverse range of 289
classroom teachers and other education personnel with expertise in 290
the topic addressed by the subcommittee and representatives of 291
individuals or groups with an interest in the topic.292

       (D) Any member of an advisory council may participate in the 293
deliberations of any subcommittee established by the council.294

       Sec. 3312.06.  Each advisory council subcommittee established 295
under section 3312.05 of the Revised Code shall make 296
recommendations to the advisory council regarding the 297
implementation of state and regional education initiatives and 298
school improvement efforts in the subcommittee's area of 299
specialization. The recommendations may include strategies to 300
tailor state education initiatives to regional needs and 301
priorities or to maximize funds available to the region for the 302
provision of services in the subcommittee's area of 303
specialization.304

       Sec. 3312.07. (A) Not later than July 1, 2006, the department 305
of education shall select a school district or educational service 306
center in each region of the educational regional service system 307
to be the fiscal agent for the region. For this purpose, the 308
department shall issue a request for proposals from districts and 309
service centers interested in being a fiscal agent. The department 310
shall select each fiscal agent based upon the following criteria:311

       (1) Capability to serve as a fiscal agent as demonstrated by 312
a satisfactory audit record and prior experience serving as a 313
fiscal agent;314

       (2) Adequate capacity in terms of facilities, personnel, and 315
other relevant resources;316

       (3) Evidence that the school district's or educational 317
service center's role as a fiscal agent would result in minimal 318
disruption to its responsibilities as a district or service 319
center;320

       (4) Demonstrated intent to limit the aggregate fees for 321
administering a performance contract entered into under section 322
3312.08 of the Revised Code to not more than seven per cent of the 323
value of the contract.324

       (B) If no school district or educational service center in a 325
region responds to the request for proposals issued by the 326
department, the department shall select a district or service 327
center in the region that meets the criteria in division (A) of 328
this section to be the fiscal agent for the region.329

       Sec. 3312.08.  Each fiscal agent selected by the department 330
of education pursuant to section 3312.07 of the Revised Code shall 331
do all of the following:332

       (A) Enter into performance contracts with the department in 333
accordance with section 3312.09 of the Revised Code for the 334
implementation of state and regional education initiatives and 335
school improvement efforts;336

       (B) Receive federal and state funds, including federal funds 337
for the provision of special education and related services, as 338
specified in the performance contracts, and disburse those funds 339
to educational service centers, data acquisition sites, and other 340
regional service providers;341

       (C) Implement any expenditure of funds recommended by the 342
advisory council for the region pursuant to section 3312.04 of the 343
Revised Code or required by the terms of any performance contract, 344
unless there are insufficient funds available to the region to pay 345
for the expenditure or the expenditure violates a provision of the 346
Revised Code or rule of the state board of education regarding 347
such expenditure;348

       (D) Exercise fiscal oversight of the implementation of state 349
and regional education initiatives and school improvement efforts.350

       Sec. 3312.09.  Each performance contract entered into by the 351
department of education and the fiscal agent of a region for 352
implementation of a state or regional education initiative or 353
school improvement effort shall include the following:354

       (A) A definition of the services to be provided to school 355
districts, community schools, and chartered nonpublic schools in 356
the region;357

       (B) Expected outcomes from the provision of the services 358
defined in the contract;359

       (C) The method the department will use to evaluate whether 360
the expected outcomes have been achieved;361

       (D) A requirement that the fiscal agent develop and implement 362
a corrective action plan if the results of the evaluation are 363
unsatisfactory;364

       (E) Data reporting requirements;365

       (F) The aggregate fees to be charged by the fiscal agent and 366
any entity with which it subcontracts to cover personnel and 367
program costs associated with administering the contract, which 368
fees shall be subject to controlling board approval if in excess 369
of four per cent of the value of the contract;370

       (G) A requirement that a member of the advisory council in 371
the region be a member of the state regional alliance advisory 372
board established under section 3312.11 of the Revised Code.373

       Sec. 3312.10.  The board of education of a city, exempted 374
village, or local school district or the governing authority of a 375
community school may enter into an agreement, through the adoption 376
of identical resolutions, with the governing authority of a data 377
acquisition site, under which the data acquisition site will 378
provide services to the school district or community school. 379
Services provided under the agreement and the amount to be paid 380
for such services shall be mutually agreed to by the parties to 381
the agreement, and shall be specified in the agreement. Payment 382
for services specified in the agreement shall be the sole 383
responsibility of the board of education or community school 384
governing authority and shall be made directly to the data 385
acquisition site providing the services.386

       Sec. 3312.11.  (A) The state regional alliance advisory board 387
is hereby created. The board shall consist of the following 388
members:389

       (1) One member of the advisory council of each region of the 390
educational regional service system, appointed by the council;391

       (2) One member of the state board of education, appointed by 392
the state board;393

       (3) One representative of four-year institutions of higher 394
education, appointed by the Ohio board of regents;395

       (4) One representative of two-year institutions of higher 396
education, appointed by the Ohio association of community 397
colleges;398

       (5) One representative of the department of education, 399
appointed by the superintendent of public instruction;400

       (6) One representative of the governor, appointed by the 401
governor;402

       (7) One classroom teacher, appointed jointly by the Ohio 403
education association and the Ohio federation of teachers;404

       (8) One parent, appointed by the Ohio parent teacher 405
association;406

       (9) One representative of business, appointed by the Ohio 407
chamber of commerce;408

       (10) One representative of the buckeye association of school 409
administrators, appointed by the association;410

       (11) One representative of the Ohio educational service 411
center association, appointed by the association.412

       The superintendent of public instruction and the chairpersons 413
and ranking minority members of the education committees of the 414
senate and house of representatives, or their designees, shall be 415
ex officio, nonvoting members of the board.416

       (B) All appointed members of the board shall serve at the 417
pleasure of their appointing authorities.418

       (C) Members shall receive no compensation for their services.419

       (D) The superintendent of public instruction, or the 420
superintendent's designee, shall be the chairperson of the board. 421
For two years after its initial meeting, the board shall hold 422
regular meetings at least monthly to conduct board business and 423
may hold other meetings at the call of the chairperson. 424
Subsequently, meetings shall be held at the call of the 425
chairperson or at the request of at least one-third of the board's 426
members.427

       Sec. 3312.12.  The state regional alliance advisory board 428
shall do all of the following:429

       (A) Identify issues concerning the operation of the 430
educational regional service system that may require action by the 431
state board of education or the department of education;432

       (B) Promote communication and coordination among the state 433
board, the department, fiscal agents, advisory councils, and users 434
of the educational regional service system regarding issues 435
affecting the operation of the system and statewide education 436
initiatives;437

       (C) Make recommendations regarding quality standards for the 438
delivery of services to school districts and schools through the 439
educational regional service system. Copies of the recommendations 440
shall be provided to the department and the advisory councils.441

       (D) Establish an accountability system to evaluate the board 442
on its performance of the duties described in divisions (A) to (C) 443
of this section.444

       Sec. 3313.843.  (A) Notwithstanding division (D) of section445
3311.52 of the Revised Code, this section does not apply to either 446
of the following:447

       (1) Any cooperative education school district;448

       (2) Any city or exempted village school district with a total 449
student count of thirteen thousand or more determined pursuant to 450
section 3317.03 of the Revised Code that has not entered into one 451
or more agreements pursuant to this section prior to July 1, 1993, 452
unless the district's total student count did not exceed thirteen 453
thousand at the time it entered into an initial agreement under 454
this section.455

       (B) The board of education of a city or exempted village 456
school district and the governing board of an educational service 457
center with territory in a county in which the city or exempted 458
village school district also has territory may enter into an 459
agreement, through adoption of identical resolutions, under which 460
the educational service center governing board will provide 461
services to the city or exempted village school district.462

       Services provided under the agreement shall be specified in463
the agreement, and may include any one or a combination of the464
following: supervisory teachers; in-service and continuing465
education programs for city or exempted village school district466
personnel; curriculum services as provided to the local school467
districts under the supervision of the service center governing468
board; research and development programs; academic instruction for 469
which the governing board employs teachers pursuant to section 470
3319.02 of the Revised Code; and assistance in the provision of 471
special accommodations and classes for handicapped students. 472
Services included in the agreement shall be provided to the city 473
or exempted village district in the same manner they are provided 474
to local school districts under the governing board's supervision, 475
unless otherwise specified in the agreement. The city or exempted 476
village board of education shall reimburse the educational service 477
center governing board pursuant to section 3317.11 of the Revised 478
Code.479

       (C)(1) If an educational service center received funding 480
under division (B) of former section 3317.11 or division (F) of 481
section 3317.11 of the Revised Code for an agreement under this 482
section involving a city school district whose total student count 483
was less than thirteen thousand, the service center may continue 484
to receive funding under that division for such an agreement in 485
any subsequent year if the city district's total student count 486
exceeds thirteen thousand. However, only the first thirteen 487
thousand pupils in the formula ADM of such district shall be 488
included in determining the amount of the per pupil subsidy the 489
service center shall receive under division (F) of section 3317.11 490
of the Revised Code.491

       (2) If, prior to July 1, 1998, an educational service center 492
received funding under division (B) of former section 3317.11 of 493
the Revised Code for a period of at least three years, for a good 494
faith agreement under this section involving a city school 495
district with no territory in the county in which the educational 496
service center has territory, that educational service center and 497
that city school district may enter into an agreement under this 498
section, and the service center shall receive funding under 499
division (F) of section 3317.11 of the Revised Code for any such500
agreement, notwithstanding the territorial boundaries of the 501
service center and the city school district.502

       (D) Any agreement entered into pursuant to this section shall503
be valid only if a copy is filed with the department of education504
by the first day of the school year for which the agreement is in505
effect.506

       Sec. 3313.845.  The board of education of a city, exempted 507
village, or local school district and the governing board of an 508
educational service center may enter into an agreement, through 509
adoption of identical resolutions, under which the educational 510
service center will provide services to the school district. 511
Services provided under the agreement and the amount to be paid 512
for such services shall be mutually agreed to by the district 513
board of education and the service center governing board, and 514
shall be specified in the agreement. Payment for services 515
specified in the agreement shall be made pursuant to division (D) 516
of section 3317.11 of the Revised Code and shall not include any 517
deduction under division (B), (C), or (F) of that section. Any 518
agreement entered into pursuant to this section shall be valid 519
only if a copy is filed with the department of education by the 520
first day of the school year for which the agreement is in effect.521

       The authority granted under this section to the boards of 522
education of city and exempted village school districts is in 523
addition to the authority granted to such boards under section 524
3313.843 of the Revised Code. No city or exempted village district 525
that is eligible to receive services from an educational service 526
center under section 3313.843 of the Revised Code may receive any 527
of the services described in division (B) of that section pursuant 528
to an agreement entered into with an educational service center 529
under this section.530

        If a local school district enters into an agreement with an 531
educational service center under this section and the district is 532
not located within the territory of the service center, the 533
agreement shall not require the district to receive any 534
supervisory services described in division (B) of section 3317.11 535
of the Revised Code from the service center. The supervisory 536
services described in that section shall be provided to the 537
district by the educational service center of the territory in 538
which the district is located.539

       Sec. 3319.17.  (A) As used in this section, "interdistrict540
contract" means any contract or agreement entered into by an 541
educational service center governing board and another board or 542
other public entity pursuant to section 3313.17, 3313.841, 543
3313.842, 3313.843, 3313.844, 3313.845, 3313.91, or 3323.08 of the 544
Revised Code, including any such contract or agreement for the 545
provision of services funded under division (L) of section 546
3317.024 of the Revised Code or provided in any unit approved 547
under section 3317.05 of the Revised Code.548

       (B) When, for any of the following reasons that apply to any 549
city, exempted village, local, or joint vocational school district 550
or any educational service center, the board decides that it will 551
be necessary to reduce the number of teachers it employs, it may 552
make a reasonable reduction:553

       (1) In the case of any district or service center, return to 554
duty of regular teachers after leaves of absence including leaves 555
provided pursuant to division (B) of section 3314.10 of the 556
Revised Code, suspension of schools, or territorial changes 557
affecting the district or center;558

       (2) In the case of any city, exempted village, local, or559
joint vocational school district, decreased enrollment of pupils560
in the district;561

       (3) In the case of any governing board of a service center 562
providing any particular service directly to pupils pursuant to 563
one or more interdistrict contracts requiring such service, 564
reduction in the total number of pupils the governing board is 565
required to provide with the service under all interdistrict 566
contracts as a result of the termination or nonrenewal of one or 567
more of these interdistrict contracts;568

       (4) In the case of any governing board providing any 569
particular service that it does not provide directly to pupils 570
pursuant to one or more interdistrict contracts requiring such 571
service, reduction in the total level of the service the governing 572
board is required to provide under all interdistrict contracts as 573
a result of the termination or nonrenewal of one or more of these 574
interdistrict contracts.575

       (C) In making any such reduction, any city, exempted village,576
local, or joint vocational school board shall proceed to suspend577
contracts in accordance with the recommendation of the578
superintendent of schools who shall, within each teaching field579
affected, give preference to teachers on continuing contracts and580
to teachers who have greater seniority. In making any such581
reduction, any governing board of a service center shall proceed 582
to suspend contracts in accordance with the recommendation of the583
superintendent who shall, within each teaching field or service 584
area affected, give preference to teachers on continuing contracts 585
and to teachers who have greater seniority.586

       The teachers whose continuing contracts are suspended by any 587
board pursuant to this section shall have the right of restoration 588
to continuing service status by that board in the order of 589
seniority of service in the district if and when teaching 590
positions become vacant or are created for which any of such 591
teachers are or become qualified.592

       Section 2. That existing sections 3301.075, 3313.843, and 593
3319.17 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.594

       Section 3. Subject to appropriations of the General Assembly, 595
funding for the operation of the Educational Regional Service 596
System established by this act shall begin July 1, 2006.597

       Section 4.  (A) The Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio 598
Association of Community Colleges shall make appointments to the 599
advisory councils established under section 3312.03 of the Revised 600
Code within thirty days after the effective date of this section. 601
Each advisory council shall make the appointments required by 602
division (B) of that section within forty-five days after the 603
effective date of this section.604

       (B) Each advisory council shall make the appointments to the 605
advisory council subcommittees required by division (B) of section 606
3312.05 of the Revised Code within sixty days after the effective 607
date of this section.608

       (C) Appointments to the State Regional Alliance Advisory 609
Board established by section 3312.11 of the Revised Code shall be 610
made within sixty days after the effective date of this section.611

       (D) Appointments to the Education Management Information 612
System Advisory Board established by section 3301.0713 of the 613
Revised Code shall be made within thirty days after the effective 614
date of this section.615

       Section 5. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the 616
Department of Education not fill staff positions in the regional 617
offices of the Department's Office of Early Childhood Education as 618
those positions become open through attrition.619