Ohio HB 2 - Community Schools Governance and Accountability

• Sponsor Oversight and Evaluation: Establishes comprehensive approval and ongoing evaluation system for community school sponsors, including annual rating system ("exemplary," "effective," "ineffective," "poor") based on academic performance, quality practices, and legal compliance.

• Community School Operations: Requires fiscal officers to be licensed treasurers, mandates specific contract provisions, establishes performance standards, and creates the Office of Ohio School Sponsorship to directly authorize and oversee community schools when sponsors fail.

• Financial Accountability and Transparency: Requires detailed reporting of management company expenditures, monitoring oversight costs, annual budget adoption, and $50,000 bonds or cash deposits to cover audit costs when schools close.

• Employee Protections and Retirement: Clarifies that employees hired after July 1, 2016 by community school operators who pay employment taxes are not automatically enrolled in state retirement systems; allows conversion school employees to maintain collective bargaining rights.

• Student Enrollment and Academic Standards: Revises enrollment status definitions for high school students requiring at least five units of instruction to be full-time equivalent; mandates study of regression formula for measuring academic performance comparing similar students.