Sub. H.B. 438 Summary

• Designates the week prior to Thanksgiving as "Ohio Public Education Appreciation Week."

• Requires school districts to include instruction on the positive effects of organ and tissue donation in health curriculum, emphasizing life-saving and life-enhancing effects.

• Permits school districts to forgo evaluating school counselors who are on extended leave (50% or more of school year) or have submitted a retirement notice accepted by December 1st.

• Gives priority funding from the School Facilities Commission to school districts resulting from transfers, mergers, or consolidations between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2018 that demonstrate efficient use of facility space, with possible cost reductions of 10-25 percentage points.

• Modifies property disposal procedures for school districts by extending timelines and clarifying requirements for offering unused facilities to community schools and other entities before public sale.