With the start of the 2025-2026 school year right around the corner, we have compiled the key legal developments that will be affecting public schools and educators this school year. Most of these developments arise from Ohio's biennial budget bill (H.B. 96), but we are also including important updates related to the U.S. Supreme Court's recently concluded term along with other legislation impacting education.

OHIO'S BUDGET BILL (EFFECTIVE 9/30/2025)
Below are select provisions of the budget bill affecting schools and education:

• Science of Reading trainings:
  • Requires every teacher, administrator, school psychologist or speech-language pathologist to complete training in the science of reading by June 30, 2030, and every 5 years thereafter. (R.C. § 3319.2310)
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy required:
  • Requires ODEW to develop (by December 31, 2025) a model policy on the use of AI in schools. (R.C. § 3301.24)
  • Schools, in turn, will need to adopt an AI-use policy by July 1, 2026
• Religious released time:
  • Refines the pre-existing religious released time law (R.C. § 3313.6022), which requires districts to have a policy on released time for religious instruction (RTRI) conducted by a private entity off school district property. The amended law now requires that the policy:
    • Authorize students to be excused from school to attend RTRI for at least one period per week
    • Cannot authorize released time for more than two periods in any week for elementary or middle school students
    • Cannot exceed the amount of time that is equivalent to attending two units of high school credit each week for high school students
    • Cannot prohibit students from “bringing external educational and program materials into school”
• Cell Phone Policy:
  • By January 1, 2026, districts must adopt a policy prohibiting the use of cellular phones during the instructional day, with limited exceptions. (R.C. § 3313.753) The exceptions include:
    • If the board determines it is appropriate, or a student's IEP or Section 504 Plan includes it, a student may use a cellphone or other communication device for learning or to monitor or address a health concern;
    • If a student's physician sends a written statement that the student is required to use a cellphone or other communication device to monitor or address a health concern;
    • If the district allows the use of cellphones under the building's comprehensive emergency management plan
• Definition of Public Record Revised:
  • Amends the definition of “record” pursuant to R.C. 149.011 to exclude any “personal notes or any document, device or item, regardless of physical form or whether an assistive device or application was used [e.g., AI], of a public official, or the official's attorney, employee, or agent, that is issued, maintained, and accessed solely by the individual who creates it or causes its creation"
• Absence/Intervention/Truancy:
  • Requires districts revise existing policies to:
    • Define “chronically absent” as missing at least 10% of the minimum number of hours required in the school year (R.C. § 3321.191(A))
    • Prohibit suspending, expelling or otherwise preventing a student from attending school because of absences
• Administrative Expenses:
  • Prohibits school districts from expending more than 15% of its annual operating budget on administrative salaries and benefits and other costs associated with the administration offices (see R.C. § 3315.063)
• Competitive Bidding:
  • Amends R.C. 3313.46 to require competitive bidding if a board plans to “build, repair, enlarge, improve, or demolish any building or other property” [emphasis added]; previously it was limited to “school buildings.”
• Sex Recognition:
  • Establishes state policy recognizing only two sexes, female and male, which are not changeable (R.C. § 9.05)
  • Defines terms: boy, girl, female, male, man, woman, gender identify and sex
• Teacher Assignments:
  • Requires superintendents to assign teachers based on the “best interests of students.” (R.C. § 3319.173)
  • Seniority and continuing contract status are NOT to be considered
  • Prevails over CBAs entered after effective date
• Changes to Special Needs Scholarships:
  • Replaces “parent” as the person who can apply for the Autism or Jon Peterson Special Needs scholarships with “eligible applicant,” which is defined to include parent, custodian or guardian of the child, grandparents who are caring for the child and have executed a grandparent power of attorney or caretaker authorization affidavit, a surrogate parent, or the child themselves if the child is at least 18 years of age and no custodian or guardian as been appointed
  • The scholarships are available for students who are at least three years of age and younger than 22 years old
  • The scholarships must remain available to students 18 years of age or older, as long as they remain eligible to enter their local public school and have not received a diploma; they also remain eligible if they attend a nonpublic school or are homeschooled as long as they have not received a diploma and are served with an IEP that includes services related to autism and eligible to receive transition services through the IEP
  • Autism scholarship funds may be used to pay for services provided by multiple providers to implement the child's IEP or education plan, and the scholarship providers may provide services to students virtually. Additionally, the funds may be used to pay for services provided by educational aides and instructional assistants
  • Jon Peterson Special Needs scholarship funds may be used to pay for services provided by multiple providers to implement the child's IEP, and the scholarship providers may provide services to students virtually
• Participation in Ice Hockey Programs on Non-Resident Students:
  • Permits a student from one district to play on an ice hockey team of another district that is less than 20 miles away if the student's home district does not have an ice hockey team. (R.C. § 3313.536)

RECENT LEGISLATION
Administrators and educators should also be aware of the following recent legislation (not included in the budget bill) that will be of importance during the 2025-2026 school year:

• Parents' Bill of Rights (H.B. 8)
  • The Parents' Bill of Rights was signed into law in January 2025. (R.C. § 3313.473)
    • It provides that a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent's child
  • For the 2025-2026 school year, districts are required to have a policy in place safeguarding parents' rights and allowing channels for formal complaints
  • Prohibits teaching of “sexuality content” in Grades K-3; restricts teaching of sexuality content in Grades 4-12 to that which is “age appropriate and developmentally appropriate”
    • "Sexuality content" means any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting
    • “Sexuality content” excludes instruction or presentations in sexually transmitted infection education, child sexual abuse prevention, and sexual violence prevention education provided by public schools, and incidental references to sexual concepts or gender ideology occurring outside of formal instruction or presentations on such topics, including references made during class participation and in schoolwork
  • Requires parental notification on matters involving “student health and well-being,” which includes any requests by students to identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex
  • Requires schools to adopt a procedure to obtain authorization from parents prior to providing any type of health care service to the student. Pursuant to the procedure, schools must notify parents at the start of each school year of the healthcare services offered by, or facilitated in cooperation with, the school and their option to withhold consent or decline any specified service. Additionally, prior to providing a health care service to a student, schools must notify a parent whether the school must provide the service under state law and if other options to access the service exist. The preceding requirements do not apply to emergency situations, first aid, other unanticipated minor health care services, or health care services provided pursuant to a student's individualized education program (IEP) or 504 plan.
• Indefinite Expulsion of Students (H.B. 206)
  • As of April 8, 2025, superintendents may indefinitely expel students if they engage in conduct that poses “imminent and severe endangerment” to the health and safety of themselves, peers, or school employees. (R.C. § 3313.66(B)(6))
  • At the onset of the expulsion, the school must establish “appropriate conditions” for the student to meet to be able to safely return to school
  • At the end of the expulsion period, the student must be assessed by a psychiatrist, a licensed psychologist, or a licensed school psychologist
  • The school superintendent, in consultation with a multidisciplinary school team, will then determine whether the student has shown “sufficient rehabilitation to be reinstated.”
  • If the student has not shown sufficient rehabilitation, the expulsion can be extended by 90 days. This process can be repeated indefinitely until the student is deemed to have shown sufficient rehabilitation.

U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
The following are recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that are noteworthy for their impact on education:

• Mahmoud v. Taylor (June 2025) 
  • Case arose in Maryland when parents challenged a school district's introduction of “LGBTQ+-inclusive” storybooks and its decision NOT to allow parents to opt children out of instruction on the material.
  • The Supreme Court ruled that the district's failure to allow parental opt-out interfered with the parents' free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment.
  • At this point, it is unclear what impact/implications this case will have in Ohio, given the Parents' Bill of Rights has already been enacted, but it is conceivable we could see alleged violations of the Parents' Bill of Rights compounded with claims of constitutional violations.
• A.J.T v. Osseo Area Schools Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 279 (June 2025)
  • Schoolchildren who bring ADA and/or Section 504 claims related to their education are not required to make a heightened showing of “bad faith or gross misjudgment” but instead are subject to the same standards that apply in other disability discrimination contexts
  • Previously, a student suing a school district for discrimination on the basis of adequacy of services needed to demonstrate “bad faith or gross misjudgment” on the part of school officials in order to establish liability for a claim under Section 504 or the ADA
  • Based on this decision, school districts may experience more litigation involving disputes over services that previously were exclusively in the domain of the IDEA where monetary damages are not available. Such damages are available to address violations of Section 504 and/or the ADA.
• McMahon v. New York (July 2025)
  • Supreme Court allowed the U.S. Department of Education to proceed with workforce reductions that may result in the effective dismantling of the Department.

NOTE: This Legal Roundup is intended to provide a brief summary of important legal developments. It is not intended as legal advice or to replace consultation with legal counsel. PKM attorneys are available to discuss any of these topics on a more in-depth basis if there is interest in more comprehensive coverage.