As Passed by the Senate

130th General Assembly
Regular Session
2013-2014
Am. Sub. H. B. No. 416


Representatives Burkley, Hill 

Cosponsors: Representatives Blessing, Brenner, Brown, Derickson, Dovilla, Hall, Hood, Landis, Kunze, Retherford, Roegner, Rosenberger, Stautberg, Thompson, Milkovich, Smith, Bishoff, Boyd, Patmon, Scherer, Sheehy, Stebelton Speaker Batchelder 

Senators Coley, Sawyer, Brown, Eklund, Hite, Lehner, Obhof 

A BILL
To amend Section 733.10 of Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 1
130th General Assembly to provide additional 2
calamity day relief for schools and to declare an 3
emergency.4


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

       Section 1. That Section 733.10 of Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 5
130th General Assembly be amended to read as follows:6

       Sec. 733.10. Notwithstanding(A) Except as provided in 7
division (B) of this section, notwithstanding section 3317.01 of 8
the Revised Code, as amended by this actAm. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 9
130th General Assembly, to determine whether a school district or 10
STEM school established under Chapter 3326. of the Revised Code11
satisfied the minimum school year in the 2013-2014 school year in 12
order to qualify for state funding under Chapter 3317. or 3326. of 13
the Revised Code for fiscal year 2015, the Department of Education 14
shall apply the criteria prescribed in the version of division (B) 15
of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 1, 16
2014. 17

        (B) No school district or STEM school shall be denied 18
payments under Chapter 3317. or 3326. of the Revised Code for 19
fiscal year 2015, nor shall a chartered nonpublic school be 20
determined not in compliance with the state minimum school year, 21
solely because any school operated by the district, STEM school, 22
or chartered nonpublic school was open for instruction during the 23
2013-2014 school year for not more than three days fewer than the 24
number of days required by the versions of sections 3313.48, 25
3313.481, and 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 26
1, 2014, as long as all of the following conditions are satisfied:27

       (1) The reason the school was not open for the required 28
number of days was due to any of the reasons set forth in division 29
(B) of that version of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code.30

       (2) The district, STEM school, or chartered nonpublic school 31
has made up at least four days or has invoked plans to make up at 32
least four days as specified in its contingency plan adopted for 33
the 2013-2014 school year under former section 3313.482 of the 34
Revised Code or through other adjustments to the calendar, as 35
approved by the district board or school governing board.36

       (3) The district board of education, STEM school governing 37
body, or chartered nonpublic school governing authority has 38
affirmed its intention to request the waiver of additional excused 39
days, as authorized by division (B) of this section, in a 40
resolution adopted in a regular or special meeting of the board, 41
governing body, or governing authority.42

       Section 2.  That existing Section 733.10 of Am. Sub. H.B. 59 43
of the 130th General Assembly is hereby repealed.44

       Section 3. A school district, STEM school established under 45
Chapter 3326. of the Revised Code, or a chartered nonpublic school 46
may apply the provisions of this section after applying the 47
additional excused days for the 2013-2014 school year authorized 48
under Section 733.10 of Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 130th General 49
Assembly, as amended by this act.50

       Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the contingency 51
plan it adopted for the 2013-2014 school year under division (A) 52
of former section 3313.482 of the Revised Code or division (B) of 53
the version of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior 54
to July 1, 2014, if during the 2013-2014 school year a school 55
district, STEM school, or chartered nonpublic school closes or 56
evacuates any school building for any of the reasons set forth in 57
division (B) of the version of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code 58
in effect prior to July 1, 2014, or as a result of a bomb threat 59
or any other report of an alleged or impending explosion, and if, 60
as a result of the closing or evacuation, the school district, 61
STEM school, or chartered nonpublic school is unable to meet, for 62
the 2013-2014 school year, the requirements of the versions of 63
sections 3313.48, 3313.481, and 3317.01 of the Revised Code in 64
effect prior to July 1, 2014, regarding the number of days schools 65
must be open for instruction or the requirements of the state 66
minimum standards for the school day that are established by the 67
Department of Education regarding the number of hours there must 68
be in the school day, the school district, STEM school, or 69
chartered nonpublic school may increase the length of one or more 70
other school days during the 2013-2014 school year for the school 71
that was closed or evacuated, in increments of one-half hour, to 72
make up the number of hours or days that the school building in 73
question was so closed or evacuated for the purpose of satisfying 74
the requirements of those sections.75

       A school district, STEM school, or chartered nonpublic school 76
that makes up, as described in this section, all of the hours or 77
days that its school buildings were closed or evacuated for any of 78
the reasons identified in this section shall be deemed to have 79
complied with the requirements of the versions of sections 80
3313.48, 3313.481, and 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior 81
to July 1, 2014, regarding the number of days schools must be open 82
for instruction and the requirements of the state minimum 83
standards regarding the number of hours there must be in the 84
school day for the 2013-2014 school year.85

       Section 4.  (A) Any school district, STEM school established 86
under Chapter 3326. of the Revised Code, or chartered nonpublic 87
school may include in its contingency plan for making up days or 88
hours a school was not open for instruction, for any of the 89
reasons set forth in division (B) of the version of section 90
3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 1, 2014, 91
online lessons or paper lesson blizzard bags under section 3313.88 92
of the Revised Code.93

       (B) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 94
3313.88 of the Revised Code, the Department of Education shall 95
accept and consider applications for online lessons and paper 96
lesson blizzard bags under that section for the 2013-2014 school 97
year at any time after August 1, 2013.98

       Section 5.  (A) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in 99
division (B) of the version of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code 100
in effect until July 1, 2014, in section 3321.01 or 3321.04 of the 101
Revised Code, or in any rule of the State Board of Education, for 102
the 2013-2014 school year only, a school district board of 103
education may excuse graduating twelfth-grade students from 104
attendance in school for any days or hours the students' schools 105
are open for instruction after the district's scheduled graduation 106
ceremony, as a result of adding days or hours to the school 107
calendar to make up days or hours the schools were closed that 108
school year for any of the reasons prescribed in division (B) of 109
the version of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect until 110
July 1, 2014, in order to meet the required number of days of 111
instruction prescribed by the versions of sections 3313.48, 112
3313.481, and 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 113
1, 2014. For the purposes of this section, a scheduled graduation 114
ceremony shall include any ceremony designated as a culminating 115
event for twelfth-grade students by the board of education of a 116
joint vocational school district.117

        A school district that excuses graduating twelfth-grade 118
students in accordance with this section shall not be considered 119
to have failed to comply with the versions of sections 3313.48, 120
3313.481, and 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 121
1, 2014.122

        (B) For the 2013-2014 school year, a school district may 123
excuse students in the twelfth grade from attendance in school for 124
any school day prior to the district's scheduled graduation 125
ceremony, only in accordance with division (B) of the version of 126
section 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 1, 127
2014, or the rules on excuses from school attendance adopted by 128
the State Board of Education, or if the students' schools are 129
closed to all students for days or during hours they are scheduled 130
to be open for instruction.131

       Section 6.  Since the Superintendent of Public Instruction 132
has extended the period for administering state achievement 133
assessments for grades three through eight for the 2013-2014 134
school year, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in division 135
(G)(2) of section 3301.0711 of the Revised Code, for the 2013-2014 136
school year only, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall 137
take steps to ensure that the scores for the state assessments 138
prescribed in division (A)(1) of section 3301.0710 of the Revised 139
Code are returned to each school district or school as follows:140

       (A) For the assessments administered to students in the third 141
grade, not later than June 16, 2014;142

       (B) For the assessments administered to students in the 143
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade, not later than 144
June 30, 2014.145

       Section 7. A school district, STEM school, or chartered 146
nonpublic school that filed a contingency plan on or prior to 147
September 1, 2013, in accordance with division (A) of former 148
section 3313.482 of the Revised Code, may update that contingency 149
plan at any time during the 2013-2014 school year.150

       Section 8.  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the 151
contingency plan it adopted for the 2013-2014 school year under 152
division (A) of former section 3313.482 of the Revised Code or 153
division (B) of the version of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code 154
in effect prior to July 1, 2014, for the 2013-2014 school year, a 155
school district, STEM school established under Chapter 3326. of 156
the Revised Code, or chartered nonpublic school may hold one 157
additional day for in-service training programs for the district's 158
or school's teachers and nonteaching employees during days the 159
school is otherwise not scheduled to be open for instruction, to 160
make up a day schools were closed for any of the reasons 161
prescribed in division (B) of the version of section 3317.01 of 162
the Revised Code in effect prior to July 1, 2014, as necessary in 163
order to comply with the minimum school year requirements of the 164
version of section 3313.48 of the Revised Code in effect prior to 165
July 1, 2014. A school district or school that holds the 166
additional day for in-service training programs in the manner 167
prescribed by this section shall be deemed to have complied with 168
the requirements of the versions of sections 3313.48, 3313.481, 169
and 3317.01 of the Revised Code in effect prior to July 1, 2014, 170
regarding the number of days schools must be open for instruction 171
for the 2013-2014 school year.172

       The day made up in accordance with this section shall not 173
count toward compliance with division (B)(2) of Section 733.10 of 174
Am. Sub. H.B. 59 of the 130th General Assembly, as amended by this 175
act.176

       Section 9. This act is hereby declared to be an emergency 177
measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public 178
peace, health, and safety. The reason for the necessity is that 179
immediate action is necessary to address in a timely manner issues 180
related to the waiver and make up of excess calamity days in the 181
2013-2014 school year. Therefore, this act shall go into immediate 182
effect.183