HB 575 Summary: Private School Accountability and Transparency Act

• Establishes reporting and accountability requirements for chartered nonpublic schools, including mandatory publication of enrollment numbers, background check policies, and aggregate assessment data on school websites.

• Requires chartered nonpublic schools receiving state scholarship funding (25% or more of enrollment) to comply with financial auditing rules, submit funding/expenditure reports, and comply with open records requests similar to public school districts.

• Mandates that nonpublic schools implement racial nondiscrimination policies approved by the Department of Education and include these policies in school advertisements, handbooks, and materials before charter approval.

• Requires most chartered nonpublic schools enrolling scholarship students to administer state assessments (Ohio graduation tests and other standardized assessments) to students and report results to the state, with limited exceptions for specialized schools serving students with disabilities.

• Creates a report card system for all chartered nonpublic schools similar to public school report cards and requires the department to develop a student growth measure for scholarship students by July 1, 2025.