New laws in effect this school year

[In the player above, watch previous FOX 8 News coverage on Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s new cell phone rules.]

(WJW) — Many Ohio students are headed back to school this month, as a slate of new laws governing technology, educators and student privacy are about to take effect.

Read on for a breakdown of four new laws for Ohio schools starting in the 2024-25 school year.

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New rules on cell phones in schools

The most sweeping change for the upcoming school year is out of students’ hands.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 250 in May, requiring Ohio schools to create their own policies limiting students’ cell phone usage during school hours as much as possible, though not necessarily prohibiting it.

It’s intended to cut down on distractions and bullying, but it also gives local schools discretion in crafting their policies. The Ohio Department of Education & Workforce put forth a boilerplate policy that meets the new standards.

“Cell phones in classrooms pose a significant challenge to learning,” DeWine said in May at a Dublin middle school.

“While the impact of having cell phones in the classrooms is extremely negative, we know that the impact of removing phones from our schools is extremely positive,” DeWine said.

Students can still use their phones if they’re somehow included in their Individualized Education Plans, or to manage health issues like diabetes.

The bill requires schools to adopt a policy during a public meeting no later than July 1, 2025.

Cleveland Metropolitan School District this school year planned to have students store their devices in lockable pouches.

Parma City Schools banned them from classrooms last year, opting to store them all in a locked safe until the end of the school day.

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It’s easier to become a teacher

Amid an ongoing shortage of teachers nationwide, Senate Bill 168, which takes effect on Oct. 24, gives anyone holding a Master’s degree the opportunity to obtain an educator’s license in Ohio, after passing an exam in the subject they plan to teach.

They’ll be held to the same standards as traditional teachers.

The new law also allows for “alternative pathways” for those with Bachelor’s degrees to work as a school administrator or superintendent.

“If you have got somebody with a Bachelor’s degree and has other experiences that would qualify them — even if they are not licensed — they would have an opportunity down the road to get the equivalency or actual licensing done,” the law’s sponsor, state Sen. Jerry Cirino of Cleveland, R-18th, said in May. “They would be able to step in and begin teaching if they have the subject matter expertise.”

It also paves the way to an education degree for high school seniors and workers in schools that are struggling with retaining teachers or are classified as having “high need.”

The Grow Your Own Teacher Program was added in the state’s last budget. It offers a four-year scholarship, $7,500 per year, so long as the recipient commits to teaching for at least four years within six years of completing their training.

It could be at the recipient’s own high-need school, or at another school that meets that criteria.

Protecting student privacy

Senate Bill 29, also taking effect on Oct. 24, seeks to keep students from being tracked or surveilled while using school-issued devices.

When students shifted to remote learning during the pandemic, schools across Ohio started handing out tablets, laptops or Chromebooks for students to take home, said the law’s sponsor state Sen. Steven Huffman of Tipp City, R-5th.

“With this rapid expansion of school-issued devices, school districts across our state and nation began to install surveillance software to watch online interaction in an attempt to keep students on track with their studies,” he said in committee testimony. “However, these surveillance programs advertise that teachers and administrators have access to remote control of these devices, even after school has ended for the day. This means that they can take control of a student’s keyboard, or even access their cameras without the student knowing.”

The bill includes exemptions for safety, warranted searches or when a device is lost or stolen.

Those representing a coalition of Northwestern Ohio schools in June testimony said there’s concern the law could hinder administrators’ ability to watch out for warning signs of an impending threat or prevent students from accessing inappropriate content on their school-issued devices.

It also insulates student records from the vendors who provide the software that schools use, keeping school districts or technology providers from sharing students’ confidential records or monitoring their activity, except in specific circumstances.

Parents must be informed if a students’ records were accessed in this way or whenever a district contracts with a provider that can access the records, under the new law.

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Three religious expression days

Ohio’s K-12 students are now allowed up to three absent days for religious expression and able to take holidays for reasons of faith or spiritual belief.

House Bill 214, the Religious Expression Days, or R.E.D. Act, signed by the governor late last month, also takes effect on Oct. 24.

It requires Ohio schools to adopt policies that allow those approved absences and also protect the student from discrimination or having to divulge their beliefs in order to justify the absence.

School principals “shall approve such requests without inquiry into the sincerity of a student’s religious or spiritual belief system,” reads the bill. Principals can, however, verify the absence request by contacting a student’s parent or guardian.

Students are still allowed to participate in sports or other extracurriculars on their religious expression days.

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