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Ohio Laws and Rules
As used in this section and section 3317.011 of the Revised Code, “school district,” unless otherwise specified, means any city, local, exempted village, joint vocational, or cooperative education school district and any educational service center.
This chapter shall be administered by the state board of education. The superintendent of public instruction shall calculate the amounts payable to each school district and shall certify the amounts payable to each eligible district to the treasurer of the district as provided by this chapter. As soon as possible after such amounts are calculated, the superintendent shall certify to the treasurer of each school district the district’s adjusted charge-off increase, as defined in section 5705.211 of the Revised Code. No moneys shall be distributed pursuant to this chapter without the approval of the controlling board.
The state board of education shall, in accordance with appropriations made by the general assembly, meet the financial obligations of this chapter.
Annually, the department of education shall calculate and report to each school district the district’s total state and local funds for providing an adequate basic education to the district’s nondisabled students, utilizing the determination in section 3317.012 of the Revised Code. In addition, the department shall calculate and report separately for each school district the district’s total state and local funds for providing an adequate education for its students with disabilities, utilizing the determinations in both sections 3317.012 and 3317.013 of the Revised Code.
Not later than the thirty-first day of August of each fiscal year, the department of education shall provide to each school district and county MR/DD board a preliminary estimate of the amount of funding that the department calculates the district will receive under each of divisions (C)(1) and (4) of section 3317.022 of the Revised Code. No later than the first day of December of each fiscal year, the department shall update that preliminary estimate.
Moneys distributed pursuant to this chapter shall be calculated and paid on a fiscal year basis, beginning with the first day of July and extending through the thirtieth day of June. The moneys appropriated for each fiscal year shall be distributed at least monthly to each school district unless otherwise provided for. The state board shall submit a yearly distribution plan to the controlling board at its first meeting in July. The state board shall submit any proposed midyear revision of the plan to the controlling board in January. Any year-end revision of the plan shall be submitted to the controlling board in June. If moneys appropriated for each fiscal year are distributed other than monthly, such distribution shall be on the same basis for each school district.
The total amounts paid each month shall constitute, as nearly as possible, one-twelfth of the total amount payable for the entire year.
Until fiscal year 2007, payments made during the first six months of the fiscal year may be based on an estimate of the amounts payable for the entire year. Payments made in the last six months shall be based on the final calculation of the amounts payable to each school district for that fiscal year. Payments made in the last six months may be adjusted, if necessary, to correct the amounts distributed in the first six months, and to reflect enrollment increases when such are at least three per cent.
Beginning in fiscal year 2007, payments shall be calculated to reflect the biannual reporting of average daily membership. In fiscal year 2007 and in each fiscal year thereafter, annualized periodic payments for each school district shall be based on the district’s final student counts verified by the superintendent of public instruction based on reports under section 3317.03 of the Revised Code, as adjusted, if so ordered, under division (K) of that section, as follows:
the sum of one-half of the number of students verified and adjusted
for the first full week in October plus one-half of the
average of the numbers verified and adjusted for the first full week
in October and for the first full week in February
Except as otherwise provided, payments under this chapter shall be made only to those school districts in which:
(A) The school district, except for any educational service center and any joint vocational or cooperative education school district, levies for current operating expenses at least twenty mills. Levies for joint vocational or cooperative education school districts or county school financing districts, limited to or to the extent apportioned to current expenses, shall be included in this qualification requirement. School district income tax levies under Chapter 5748. of the Revised Code, limited to or to the extent apportioned to current operating expenses, shall be included in this qualification requirement to the extent determined by the tax commissioner under division (D) of section 3317.021 of the Revised Code.
(B) The school year next preceding the fiscal year for which such payments are authorized meets the requirement of section 3313.48 or 3313.481 of the Revised Code, with regard to the minimum number of days or hours school must be open for instruction with pupils in attendance, for individualized parent-teacher conference and reporting periods, and for professional meetings of teachers. This requirement shall be waived by the superintendent of public instruction if it had been necessary for a school to be closed because of disease epidemic, hazardous weather conditions, inoperability of school buses or other equipment necessary to the school’s operation, damage to a school building, or other temporary circumstances due to utility failure rendering the school building unfit for school use, provided that for those school districts operating pursuant to section 3313.48 of the Revised Code the number of days the school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance and for individualized parent-teacher conference and reporting periods is not less than one hundred seventy-five, or for those school districts operating on a trimester plan the number of days the school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance not less than seventy-nine days in any trimester, for those school districts operating on a quarterly plan the number of days the school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance not less than fifty-nine days in any quarter, or for those school districts operating on a pentamester plan the number of days the school was actually open for instruction with pupils in attendance not less than forty-four days in any pentamester.
A school district shall not be considered to have failed to comply with this division or section 3313.481 of the Revised Code because schools were open for instruction but either twelfth grade students were excused from attendance for up to three days or only a portion of the kindergarten students were in attendance for up to three days in order to allow for the gradual orientation to school of such students.
The superintendent of public instruction shall waive the requirements of this section with reference to the minimum number of days or hours school must be in session with pupils in attendance for the school year succeeding the school year in which a board of education initiates a plan of operation pursuant to section 3313.481 of the Revised Code. The minimum requirements of this section shall again be applicable to such a district beginning with the school year commencing the second July succeeding the initiation of one such plan, and for each school year thereafter.
A school district shall not be considered to have failed to comply with this division or section 3313.48 or 3313.481 of the Revised Code because schools were open for instruction but the length of the regularly scheduled school day, for any number of days during the school year, was reduced by not more than two hours due to hazardous weather conditions.
(C) The school district has on file, and is paying in accordance with, a teachers’ salary schedule which complies with section 3317.13 of the Revised Code.
A board of education or governing board of an educational service center which has not conformed with other law and the rules pursuant thereto, shall not participate in the distribution of funds authorized by sections 3317.022 to 3317.0211, 3317.11, 3317.16, 3317.17, and 3317.19 of the Revised Code, except for good and sufficient reason established to the satisfaction of the state board of education and the state controlling board.
All funds allocated to school districts under this chapter, except those specifically allocated for other purposes, shall be used to pay current operating expenses only.
Effective Date: 09-05-2001; 09-29-2005; 06-30-2006; 2007 HB119 06-30-2007