Wide-ranging education bill would update Ohio’s ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Two Republican lawmakers are looking to update Ohio education law, including the Parents’ Bill of Rights that was enacted just months ago.

Reps. Gayle Manning (R-Avon) and Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) introduced House Bill 455 on Sept. 17, more than 500 pages of proposed education reforms. The bill would eliminate a number of programs and requirements for Ohio schools and would update laws to increase parental involvement in schools.

“House Bill 455 works to modernize Ohio’s education code by eliminating outdated educator requirements, reducing unnecessary regulations and ensuring teachers can devote more time and energy to delivering high-quality instruction to students,” a spokesperson for Manning said.

The bill would update laws enacted under the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which went into effect in April. It was a sweeping K-12 education bill that allows parents to opt their students out of “sexuality content” and requires educators to notify parents of changes in their students’ health.

The bill drew criticism for including gender identity as a required health update to parents. LGBTQ+ advocates called it “Ohio’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill” and worried it would “out” students and possibly create unsafe environments. A national crisis hotline reported a surge in calls from LGBTQ+ youth directly after the Parents’ Bill of Rights was signed into law.

House Bill 455 still requires an alert to parents if their student wishes to identify differently than their sex assigned at birth. However, it adds an exception to not report changes if there is reasonable belief that telling a students’ parents would harm the child. In those cases, educators must report changes to law enforcement or child protective services.

The bill would also remove “other mental health” changes from required reporting. The law would only require parents to be informed of mental health updates if their student exhibits suicidal ideation, or persisting symptoms of depression or “severe anxiety.” See previous coverage of the Parents’ Bill of Rights in the video player above.

House Bill 455 would also clarify rules governing “sexuality content.” Under current law, sexuality content is defined as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting.” House Bill 455 would clarify that it refers to human sexuality content during planned instruction. It would also add visual instruction to the definition.

Currently, parents have the opportunity to review any instructional materials that involve sexuality content and can refuse to allow their student to participate. House Bill 455 would have parents review the content of the lessons, not the specific instructional materials.

Bird was a cosponsor of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, but Manning was one of just three House Republicans to vote against enacting the legislation. She had previously voted in favor of the bill in 2023 but did not approve it in its final form, which had folded in amendments from the Senate.

H.B. 455 would also eliminate more than 20 provisions in Ohio’s education law, including many reporting requirements. If enacted, public districts would no longer have to annually report their compliance with various state mandates. Charter school sponsors would no longer have to report their annual expenditures to the state.

The eliminations are wide-ranging. One would eliminate the requirement for the Department of Education and Workforce to employ a full-time physical education coordinator. Another would remove the Tutor Ohio Kids Program, a remedial program that offered tutoring to students in participating charter and public schools. Still another change would no longer require online schools to disenroll and report students to the state if they miss state assessments two years in a row.

House Bill 455 incorporates a number of unaffiliated changes too. For instance, the bill would require the state Board of Education to automatically revoke any license if the licensee was convicted of domestic violence.

The bill has not been referred to committee, but General Assembly meetings resume from summer recess this week, so it could see further action soon.