As Introduced

129th General Assembly
Regular Session
2011-2012
H. B. No. 36


Representatives Kozlowski, Carey 

Cosponsors: Representatives Boose, Burke, Dovilla, Grossman, Hayes, Johnson, McKenney, Roegner, Rosenberger, Ruhl, Slaby, Stautberg, Stebelton, Thompson, Young, Combs, Balderson, Gonzales, Martin, Baker, Hottinger, Derickson 



A BILL
To amend sections 3313.482 and 3317.01 of the Revised 1
Code to excuse up to five, instead of three, 2
calamity days for the 2010-2011 school year, to 3
broaden schools' authority to make up calamity 4
days by lengthening remaining days in the school 5
year, and to declare an emergency. 6


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

       Section 1. That sections 3313.482 and 3317.01 of the Revised 7
Code be amended to read as follows:8

       Sec. 3313.482.  (A) Annually, prior to the first day of 9
September, the board of education of each city, local, and 10
exempted village school district shall adopt a resolution 11
specifying a contingency plan under which the district's students 12
will make up days on which it was necessary to close schools for 13
any of the reasons specified in division (A)(2) of section 3306.01 14
and division (B) of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code, if any 15
such days must be made up in order to comply with the requirements 16
of that section and sections 3306.01, 3313.48 and, 3313.481, and 17
3317.01 of the Revised Code. The resolutionplan shall provide in 18
the plan for making up at least five full school days. The plan 19
may provide for making up some or all of the days a school is 20
closed by increasing the length of other school days in the manner 21
authorized in division (B) of this section. No resolution adopted 22
pursuant to this division shall conflict with any collective 23
bargaining agreement into which a board has entered pursuant to 24
Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code and that is in effect in the 25
district.26

       (B) Notwithstanding the content ofanything to the contrary 27
in the contingency plan it adopts under division (A) of this 28
section, if a school district closes or evacuates any school 29
building for any of the reasons specified in division (A)(2) of 30
section 3306.01 and division (B) of section 3317.01 of the Revised 31
Code, or as a result of a bomb threat or any other report of an 32
alleged or impending explosion, and if, as a result of the closing 33
or evacuation, the school district would be unable to meet the 34
requirements of sections 3306.01, 3313.48, 3313.481, and 3317.01 35
of the Revised Code regarding the number of days schools must be 36
open for instruction or the requirements of the state minimum 37
standards for the school day that are established by the 38
department of education regarding the number of hours there must 39
be in the school day, the school district may increase the length 40
of one or more other school days for the school that was closed or 41
evacuated, in increments of one-half hour, to make up the number 42
of hours or days that the school building in question was so 43
closed or evacuated for the purpose of satisfying the requirements 44
of those sections regarding the number of days schools must be 45
open for instruction or the requirements of those standards 46
regarding the number of hours there must be in the school day.47

       (C) If a school district closes or evacuates any school 48
building for any of the reasons specified in division (B) of 49
section 3317.01 of the Revised Code, and if for that school the 50
total number of full school days specified in the district's 51
contingency plan adopted under division (A) of this section is 52
insufficient to enable the school district to meet the 53
requirements of sections 3313.48, 3313.481, and 3317.01 of the 54
Revised Code regarding the number of days schools must be open for 55
instruction or the requirements of the state minimum standards for 56
the school day that are established by the department of education 57
regarding the number of hours there must be in the school day, the 58
school district may increase the length of one or more other 59
school days for the school that was closed or evacuated, in 60
increments of one-half hour, to make up the number of hours or 61
days that the school building in question was so closed or 62
evacuated for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of those 63
sections regarding the number of days schools must be open for 64
instruction or the requirements of those standards regarding the 65
number of hours there must be in the school day. The district 66
shall not be required to actually make up any of the days 67
specified in the district's contingency plan prior to increasing 68
the length of one or more school days to make up the shortage of 69
hours or days caused by the school's closure or evacuation, but in 70
no case shall the district fail to make up the total number of 71
full school days specified in the contingency plan in accordance 72
with that plan.73

       (D) If a school district closes or evacuates a school 74
building as a result of a bomb threat or any other report of an 75
alleged or impending explosion and also closes or evacuates that 76
school building on a different day for any of the reasons 77
specified in division (B) of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code, 78
division (B) of this section applies regarding the closing or 79
evacuation of the school building as a result of the bomb threat 80
or report of an alleged or impending explosion and division (C) of 81
this section applies regarding the closing or evacuation of the 82
school building for the reason specified in division (B) of 83
section 3317.01 of the Revised Code.84

       Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 3313.48, 3313.481, 85
and 3317.01 of the Revised Code and the requirements of the state 86
minimum standards for the school day that are established by the 87
department of education and notwithstanding the content of the 88
contingency plan it adopts under division (A) of this section 89
regarding the closing or evacuation of a school building as a 90
result of a bomb threat or any other report of an alleged or 91
impending explosion, aA school district that makes up, as 92
described in this division (B) or (C) of this section, all of the 93
hours or days that its school buildings were closed or evacuated 94
for any of the reasons identified in this division (B) or (C) of 95
this section shall be deemed to have complied with the 96
requirements of those sections 3306.01, 3313.48, 3313.481, and 97
3317.01 of the Revised Code regarding the number of days schools 98
must be open for instruction and the requirements of thosethe 99
state minimum standards regarding the number of hours there must 100
be in the school day.101

       Sec. 3317.01.  As used in this section and section 3317.011 102
of the Revised Code, "school district," unless otherwise 103
specified, means any city, local, exempted village, joint 104
vocational, or cooperative education school district and any 105
educational service center.106

       This chapter shall be administered by the state board of 107
education. The superintendent of public instruction shall 108
calculate the amounts payable to each school district and shall 109
certify the amounts payable to each eligible district to the 110
treasurer of the district as provided by this chapter. As soon as 111
possible after such amounts are calculated, the superintendent 112
shall certify to the treasurer of each school district the 113
district's adjusted charge-off increase, as defined in section 114
5705.211 of the Revised Code. No moneys shall be distributed 115
pursuant to this chapter without the approval of the controlling 116
board.117

       The state board of education shall, in accordance with 118
appropriations made by the general assembly, meet the financial 119
obligations of this chapter.120

       Moneys distributed pursuant to this chapter shall be 121
calculated and paid on a fiscal year basis, beginning with the 122
first day of July and extending through the thirtieth day of June. 123
The moneys appropriated for each fiscal year shall be distributed 124
periodically to each school district unless otherwise provided 125
for. The state board shall submit a yearly distribution plan to 126
the controlling board at its first meeting in July. The state 127
board shall submit any proposed midyear revision of the plan to 128
the controlling board in January. Any year-end revision of the 129
plan shall be submitted to the controlling board in June. If 130
moneys appropriated for each fiscal year are distributed other 131
than monthly, such distribution shall be on the same basis for 132
each school district.133

       Except as otherwise provided, payments under this chapter 134
shall be made only to those school districts in which:135

       (A) The school district, except for any educational service 136
center and any joint vocational or cooperative education school 137
district, levies for current operating expenses at least twenty 138
mills. Levies for joint vocational or cooperative education school 139
districts or county school financing districts, limited to or to 140
the extent apportioned to current expenses, shall be included in 141
this qualification requirement. School district income tax levies 142
under Chapter 5748. of the Revised Code, limited to or to the 143
extent apportioned to current operating expenses, shall be 144
included in this qualification requirement to the extent 145
determined by the tax commissioner under division (D) of section 146
3317.021 of the Revised Code.147

       (B) The school year next preceding the fiscal year for which 148
such payments are authorized meets the requirement of section 149
3313.48 or 3313.481 of the Revised Code, with regard to the 150
minimum number of days or hours school must be open for 151
instruction with pupils in attendance, for individualized 152
parent-teacher conference and reporting periods, and for 153
professional meetings of teachers. This requirement shall be 154
waived by the superintendent of public instruction if it had been 155
necessary for a school to be closed because of disease epidemic, 156
hazardous weather conditions, inoperability of school buses or 157
other equipment necessary to the school's operation, damage to a 158
school building, or other temporary circumstances due to utility 159
failure rendering the school building unfit for school use, 160
provided that for those school districts operating pursuant to 161
section 3313.48 of the Revised Code the number of days the school 162
was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance and 163
for individualized parent-teacher conference and reporting periods 164
is not less than one hundred seventy-five, or for those school 165
districts operating on a trimester plan the number of days the 166
school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance 167
not less than seventy-nine days in any trimester, for those school 168
districts operating on a quarterly plan the number of days the 169
school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance 170
not less than fifty-nine days in any quarter, or for those school 171
districts operating on a pentamester plan the number of days the 172
school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance 173
not less than forty-four days in any pentamester. However, for 174
fiscal year 2012, the superintendent shall waive two fewer such 175
days for the 2010-2011 school year.176

       A school district shall not be considered to have failed to 177
comply with this division or section 3313.481 of the Revised Code 178
because schools were open for instruction but either twelfth grade 179
students were excused from attendance for up to three days or only 180
a portion of the kindergarten students were in attendance for up 181
to three days in order to allow for the gradual orientation to 182
school of such students.183

       The superintendent of public instruction shall waive the 184
requirements of this section with reference to the minimum number 185
of days or hours school must be in session with pupils in 186
attendance for the school year succeeding the school year in which 187
a board of education initiates a plan of operation pursuant to 188
section 3313.481 of the Revised Code. The minimum requirements of 189
this section shall again be applicable to such a district 190
beginning with the school year commencing the second July 191
succeeding the initiation of one such plan, and for each school 192
year thereafter.193

       A school district shall not be considered to have failed to 194
comply with this division or section 3313.48 or 3313.481 of the 195
Revised Code because schools were open for instruction but the 196
length of the regularly scheduled school day, for any number of 197
days during the school year, was reduced by not more than two 198
hours due to hazardous weather conditions.199

       (C) The school district has on file, and is paying in 200
accordance with, a teachers' salary schedule which complies with 201
section 3317.13 of the Revised Code.202

       A board of education or governing board of an educational 203
service center which has not conformed with other law and the 204
rules pursuant thereto, shall not participate in the distribution 205
of funds authorized by sections 3317.022 to 3317.0211, 3317.11, 206
3317.16, 3317.17, and 3317.19 of the Revised Code, except for good 207
and sufficient reason established to the satisfaction of the state 208
board of education and the state controlling board.209

       All funds allocated to school districts under this chapter, 210
except those specifically allocated for other purposes, shall be 211
used to pay current operating expenses only.212

       Section 2. That existing sections 3313.482 and 3317.01 of the 213
Revised Code are hereby repealed.214

       Section 3. This act is hereby declared to be an emergency 215
measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public 216
peace, health, and safety. The reason for such necessity is to 217
provide schools with adequate time to address unavoidable school 218
closures due to public calamities, such as hazardous weather 219
conditions, during the current school year. Therefore, this act 220
shall go into immediate effect.221