Effective: October 15, 2015
Latest Legislation: House Bill 70 - 131st General Assembly
(A) Any school building operated by a city, exempted village, or local school district, or a community school established under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code is eligible to initiate the community learning center process as prescribed by this section.
(B) Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, each district board of education or community school governing authority may initiate a community learning center process for any school building to which this section applies.
First, the board or governing authority shall conduct a public information hearing at each school building to which this section applies to inform the community of the community learning center process. The board or governing authority may do all of the following with regard to the public information hearing:
(1) Announce the meeting not less than forty-five days in advance at the school and on the school's or district's web sites and using tools to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities;
(2) Schedule the meeting for an evening or weekend time;
(3) Provide interpretation services and written materials in all languages spoken by five per cent or more of the students enrolled in the school;
(4) Provide child care services for parents attending the meeting;
(5) Provide parents, students, teachers, nonteaching employees, and community members with the opportunity to speak at the meeting;
(6) Comply with section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
In preparing for the public information hearing, the board or governing authority shall ensure that information about the hearing is broadly distributed throughout the community.
The board or governing authority may enter into an agreement with any civic engagement organizations, community organizations, or employee organizations to support the implementation of the community learning center process.
The board or governing authority shall conduct a follow-up hearing at least once annually until action is further taken under the section with respect to the school building or until the conditions described in division (A) of this section no longer apply to the school building.
(C) Not sooner than forty-five days after the first public information hearing, the board or governing authority shall conduct an election, by paper ballot, to initiate the process to become a community learning center. Only parents or guardians of students enrolled in the school and students enrolled in a different school operated by a joint vocational school district but are otherwise entitled to attend the school, and teachers and nonteaching employees who are assigned to the school may vote in the election.
The board or governing authority shall distribute the ballots by mail and shall make copies available at the school and on the web site of the school. The board or governing authority also may distribute the ballots by directly giving ballots to teachers and nonteaching employees and sending home ballots with every student enrolled in the school building.
(D) The board or governing authority shall initiate the transition of the building to a community learning center if the results of the election held under division (C) of this section are as follows:
(1) At least fifty per cent of parents and guardians of students enrolled in the eligible school building and students enrolled in a different building operated by a joint vocational school district but who are entitled to attend the school cast ballots by a date set by the board or governing authority, and of those ballots at least sixty-seven per cent are in favor of initiating the process; and
(2) At least fifty per cent of teachers and nonteaching employees who are assigned to the school cast ballots by a date set by the board or governing authority, and of those ballots at least sixty-seven per cent are in favor of initiating the process.
(E) If a community learning center process is initiated under this section, the board or governing authority shall create a school action team under section 3302.18 of the Revised Code. Within four months upon selection, the school action team shall conduct and complete, in consultation with community partners, a performance audit of the school and review, with parental input, the needs of the school with regard to restructuring under section 3302.10, 3302.12, or 3302.042 of the Revised Code, or federal law.
The school action team shall provide quarterly updates of its work in a public hearing that complies with the same specifications prescribed in division (B) of this section.
(F) Upon completion of the audit and review, the school action team shall present its findings at a public hearing that complies with the same specifications prescribed in division (B) of this section. After the school action team presents its findings at the public hearing, it shall create a community learning center improvement plan that designates appropriate interventions, which may be based on the recommendations developed by the department under division (H)(1)(b) of this section.
If there is a federally mandated school improvement planning process, the team shall coordinate its work with that plan.
The school action team shall approve the plan by a majority vote.
(G) Upon approval of the plan by the school action team, the team shall submit the community learning center improvement plan to the same individuals described in division (C) of this section. Ballots shall be distributed and an election shall be conducted in the same manner as indicated under that division.
The school action team shall submit the plan to the district board of education or community school governing authority, if the results of the election under division (G) of this section are as follows:
(1) At least thirty per cent of parents and guardians of students enrolled in the eligible school building and students enrolled in a different building operated by a joint vocational school district but who are entitled to attend the school cast ballots by a date set by the board or governing authority, and of those ballots at least fifty per cent are in favor of initiating the process; and
(2) At least thirty per cent of teachers and nonteaching employees who are assigned to the school cast ballots by a date set by the board or governing authority, and of those ballots at least fifty per cent are in favor of initiating the process.
The board or governing authority shall evaluate the plan and determine whether to adopt it. The board or governing authority shall adopt the plan in full or adopt portions of the plan. If the board or governing authority does not adopt the plan in full, it shall provide a written explanation of why portions of the plan were rejected.
(H)(1) The department shall do all of the following with respect to this section:
(a) Adopt rules regarding the elections required under this section;
(b) Develop appropriate interventions for a community learning center improvement plan that may be used by a school action team under division (F) of this section;
(c) Publish a menu of programs and services that may be offered by community learning centers. The information shall be posted on the department's web site. To compile this information the department shall solicit input from resource coordinators of existing community learning centers ;
(d) Provide information regarding implementation of comprehensive community-based programs and supportive services including the community learning center model to school buildings meeting any of the following conditions:
(i) The building is in improvement status as defined by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" or under an agreement between the Ohio department of education and the United States secretary of education.
(ii) The building is a secondary school that is among the lowest achieving fifteen per cent of secondary schools statewide, as determined by the department.
(iii) The building is a secondary school with a graduation rate of sixty per cent or lower for three or more consecutive years.
(iv) The building is a school that the department determines is persistently low-performing.
(2) The department may do the following with respect to this section:
(a) Provide assistance, facilitation, and training to school action teams in the conducting of the audit required under this section;
(b) Provide opportunities for members of school action teams from different schools to share school improvement strategies with parents, teachers, and other relevant stakeholders in higher performing schools;
(c) Provide financial support in a school action team's planning process and create a grant program to assist in the implementation of a qualified community learning center plan.
(I) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code, the requirements of this section prevail over any conflicting provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered into on or after the effective date of this section. However, the board or governing authority and the teachers' labor organization may negotiate additional factors to be considered in the adoption of a community learning center plan.