To amend sections 3302.031 and 3313.534 of the Revised Code with respect to school district policies and reports on violent, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior.

Section 1. That sections 3302.031 and 3313.534 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3302.031. In addition to the report cards required under section 3302.03 of the Revised Code, the department of education shall annually prepare the following reports for each school district and make a copy of each report available to the superintendent of each district:

(A) A funding and expenditure accountability report which shall consist of the amount of state aid payments the school district will receive during the fiscal year under Chapter 3317. of the Revised Code and any other fiscal data the department determines is necessary to inform the public about the financial status of the district;

(B) A school safety and discipline report which shall consist of statistical information regarding student safety and discipline in each school building, including the number of suspensions and expulsions following information disaggregated according to race and, gender;, and disability:

(1) The number of suspensions and expulsions;

(2) The reasons for the suspensions or expulsions;

(3) The duration of the suspensions or expulsions, including the number of days of instruction last due to suspensions and expulsions.

(C) A student equity report which shall consist of at least a description of the status of teacher qualifications, library and media resources, textbooks, classroom materials and supplies, and technology resources for each district. To the extent possible, the information included in the report required under this division shall be disaggregated according to grade level, race, gender, disability, and scores attained on assessments required under section 3301.0710 of the Revised Code.

(D) A school enrollment report which shall consist of information about the composition of classes within each district by grade and subject disaggregated according to race, gender, and scores attained on assessments required under section 3301.0710 of the Revised Code;

(E) A student retention report which shall consist of the number of students retained in their respective grade levels in the district disaggregated by grade level, subject area, race, gender, and disability;

(F) A school district performance report which shall describe for the district and each building within the district the extent to which the district or building meets each of the applicable performance indicators established under section 3302.02 of the Revised Code, the number of performance indicators that have been achieved, and the performance index score. In calculating the rates of achievement on the performance indicators and the performance index scores for each report, the department shall exclude all students with disabilities.

Sec. 3313.534.  No later than July 1, 1998, the (A) The board of education of each city, exempted village, and local school district shall adopt a eliminate any policy of zero tolerance for violent, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior, including excessive truancy, and adopted under this section as it existed prior to the effective date of this amendment. Thereafter, no board shall adopt or re-adopt any policy of zero tolerance for such behavior. Each board shall instead establish other strategies to address such behavior that range from prevention to intervention.

(B)(1) Each school district shall provide training to each teacher employed by the district on the strategies adopted by the board pursuant to division (A) of this section, including the proper protocol for incidents involving violent, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior from a student. Such training may be offered in conjunction with the in-service training required under section 3319.073 of the Revised Code.

(2) If a teacher employed by the school district is present during any incident involving violent, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior from a student, the school building principal shall evaluate the teacher's actions during the incident and compare these actions to the training protocol provided by the district pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section. The evaluation shall be kept in the teacher's personnel file and may be considered during that teacher's evaluation under section 3319.112 of the Revised Code.

(C) Not later than a date prescribed by the department of education, the superintendent of each school district shall annually report to the department on the district's progress in closing the achievement gap between subgroups of students and the relationship between student achievement and school discipline within the district. The superintendent may consult the school safety and discipline report received pursuant to section 3302.031 of the Revised Code to complete this report. The report shall include both of the following:

(1) The effectiveness of the strategies adopted by the board pursuant to division (A) of this section and of the training provided by the district under division (B)(1) of this section in addressing disciplinary issues in schools;

(2) The relationship between the findings in division (C)(1) of this section and the district's progress in closing the achievement gap between subgroups of students. To the extent possible, the superintendent shall include in the report each subgroup of students listed under division (A) of section 3317.40 of the Revised Code, in addition to information disaggregated by race and gender.

The department shall submit each district's report to the general assembly, in accordance with section 101.68 of the Revised Code, and to the president of the state board of education.

(D) No later than July 1, 1999, each of the big eight school districts, as defined in section 3314.02 of the Revised Code, shall establish under section 3313.533 of the Revised Code at least one alternative school to meet the educational needs of students with severe discipline problems, including, but not limited to, excessive truancy, excessive disruption in the classroom, and multiple suspensions or expulsions. Any other school district that attains after that date a significantly substandard graduation rate, as defined by the department of education, shall also establish such an alternative school under that section.

Section 2. That existing sections 3302.031 and 3313.534 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.