As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session H. B. No. 191
2025-2026
Representatives Miller, J., Grim
Cosponsors: Representatives Synenberg, McNally, Denson, Rader, Upchurch,
Russo, Mohamed, Abdullahi, Sigrist, Jarrells, Somani, Cockley, Brewer, Brownlee,
Brent, White, E., Thomas, C., Hall, D.
To amend sections 3317.14, 4117.10, 5126.24, and
5705.412; to enact new section 3317.13; and to
repeal section 3317.13 of the Revised Code to
require that all school district and educational
service center teachers be paid a salary of at
least $50,000.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 3317.14, 4117.10, 5126.24, and
5705.412 be amended and new section 3317.13 of the Revised Code
be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 3317.13. No city, local, exempted village, or joint
vocational school district board of education or educational
service center governing board shall pay a teacher a base salary
of less than fifty thousand dollars.
Sec. 3317.14. Any school district board of education or
educational service center governing board participating in
funds distributed under Chapter 3317. of the Revised Code shall
annually adopt a teachers' salary schedule with provision for
increments based upon training and years of service.
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Notwithstanding sections 3317.13 and 3319.088 of the Revised
Code, the board may establish its own service requirements and
may grant service credit for such activities as teaching in
public or nonpublic schools in this state or in another state,
for service as an educational assistant other than as a
classroom aide employed in accordance with section 5107.541 of
the Revised Code, and for service in the military or in an
appropriate state or federal governmental agency, provided no
teacher receives less than the amount required to be paid
pursuant to section 3317.13 of the Revised Code and provided
full credit for a minimum of five years of actual teaching and
military experience as defined in division (A) of section
3317.13 of the Revised Code is given to each teacher .
Each teacher who has completed training which would
qualify such teacher for a higher salary bracket pursuant to
this section shall file by the fifteenth day of September with
the treasurer of the board of education or educational service
center satisfactory evidence of the completion of such
additional training. The treasurer shall then immediately place
the teacher, pursuant to this section and section 3317.13 of the
Revised Code, in the proper salary bracket in accordance with
training and years of service before certifying such salary,
training, and years of service to the department of education
and workforce. No teacher shall be paid less than the salary to
which such teacher is entitled pursuant to section 3317.13 of
the Revised Code.
Sec. 4117.10. (A) An agreement between a public employer
and an exclusive representative entered into pursuant to this
chapter governs the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of
public employment covered by the agreement. If the agreement
provides for a final and binding arbitration of grievances,
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public employers, employees, and employee organizations are
subject solely to that grievance procedure and the state
personnel board of review or civil service commissions have no
jurisdiction to receive and determine any appeals relating to
matters that were the subject of a final and binding grievance
procedure. Where no agreement exists or where an agreement makes
no specification about a matter, the public employer and public
employees are subject to all applicable state or local laws or
ordinances pertaining to the wages, hours, and terms and
conditions of employment for public employees. All of the
following prevail over conflicting provisions of agreements
between employee organizations and public employers:
(1) Laws pertaining to any of the following subjects:
(a) Civil rights;
(b) Affirmative action;
(c) Unemployment compensation;
(d) Workers' compensation;
(e) The retirement of public employees;
(f) Residency requirements;
(g) The minimum educational requirements contained in the
Revised Code pertaining to public education including the
requirement of a certificate by the fiscal officer of a school
district pursuant to section 5705.41 of the Revised Code;
(h) The provisions of division (A) of section 124.34 of
the Revised Code governing the disciplining of officers and
employees who have been convicted of a felony;
(i) The minimum standards promulgated by the director of
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education and workforce pursuant to division (D) of section
3301.07 of the Revised Code.
(2) The law pertaining to the leave of absence and
compensation provided under section 5923.05 of the Revised Code,
if the terms of the agreement contain benefits which are less
than those contained in that section or the agreement contains
no such terms and the public authority is the state or any
agency, authority, commission, or board of the state or if the
public authority is another entity listed in division (B) of
section 4117.01 of the Revised Code that elects to provide leave
of absence and compensation as provided in section 5923.05 of
the Revised Code;
(3) The law pertaining to the leave established under
section 5906.02 of the Revised Code, if the terms of the
agreement contain benefits that are less than those contained in
section 5906.02 of the Revised Code;
(4) The law pertaining to excess benefits prohibited under
section 3345.311 of the Revised Code with respect to an
agreement between an employee organization and a public employer
entered into on or after September 29, 2015.
(5) For any collective bargaining agreement entered into
on or after the effective date of this amendment, the law
pertaining to compensation required pursuant to section 3317.13
of the Revised Code, if the terms of the agreement provide for
wages or compensation that are less than the minimum required
under that section.
Except for sections 306.08, 306.12, 306.35, and 4981.22 of
the Revised Code and arrangements entered into thereunder, and
section 4981.21 of the Revised Code as necessary to comply with
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section 13(c) of the "Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964," 87
Stat. 295, 49 U.S.C.A. 1609(c), as amended, and arrangements
entered into thereunder, this chapter prevails over any and all
other conflicting laws, resolutions, provisions, present or
future, except as otherwise specified in this chapter or as
otherwise specified by the general assembly. Nothing in this
section prohibits or shall be construed to invalidate the
provisions of an agreement establishing supplemental workers'
compensation or unemployment compensation benefits or exceeding
minimum requirements contained in the Revised Code pertaining to
public education or the minimum standards promulgated by the
director of education and workforce pursuant to division (D) of
section 3301.07 of the Revised Code.
(B) The public employer shall submit a request for funds
necessary to implement an agreement and for approval of any
other matter requiring the approval of the appropriate
legislative body to the legislative body within fourteen days of
the date on which the parties finalize the agreement, unless
otherwise specified, but if the appropriate legislative body is
not in session at the time, then within fourteen days after it
convenes. The legislative body must approve or reject the
submission as a whole, and the submission is deemed approved if
the legislative body fails to act within thirty days after the
public employer submits the agreement. The parties may specify
that those provisions of the agreement not requiring action by a
legislative body are effective and operative in accordance with
the terms of the agreement, provided there has been compliance
with division (C) of this section. If the legislative body
rejects the submission of the public employer, either party may
reopen all or part of the entire agreement.
As used in this section, "legislative body" includes the
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governing board of a municipal corporation, school district,
college or university, village, township, or board of county
commissioners or any other body that has authority to approve
the budget of their public jurisdiction and, with regard to the
state, "legislative body" means the controlling board.
(C) The chief executive officer, or the chief executive
officer's representative, of each municipal corporation, the
designated representative of the board of education of each
school district, college or university, or any other body that
has authority to approve the budget of their public
jurisdiction, the designated representative of the board of
county commissioners and of each elected officeholder of the
county whose employees are covered by the collective
negotiations, and the designated representative of the village
or the board of township trustees of each township is
responsible for negotiations in the collective bargaining
process; except that the legislative body may accept or reject a
proposed collective bargaining agreement. When the matters about
which there is agreement are reduced to writing and approved by
the employee organization and the legislative body, the
agreement is binding upon the legislative body, the employer,
and the employee organization and employees covered by the
agreement.
(D) There is hereby established an office of collective
bargaining in the department of administrative services for the
purpose of negotiating with and entering into written agreements
between state agencies, departments, boards, and commissions and
the exclusive representative on matters of wages, hours, terms
and other conditions of employment and the continuation,
modification, or deletion of an existing provision of a
collective bargaining agreement. Nothing in any provision of law
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to the contrary shall be interpreted as excluding the bureau of
workers' compensation and the industrial commission from the
preceding sentence. This office shall not negotiate on behalf of
other statewide elected officials or boards of trustees of state
institutions of higher education who shall be considered as
separate public employers for the purposes of this chapter;
however, the office may negotiate on behalf of these officials
or trustees where authorized by the officials or trustees. The
staff of the office of collective bargaining are in the
unclassified service. The director of administrative services
shall fix the compensation of the staff.
The office of collective bargaining shall:
(1) Assist the director in formulating management's
philosophy for public collective bargaining as well as planning
bargaining strategies;
(2) Conduct negotiations with the exclusive
representatives of each employee organization;
(3) Coordinate the state's resources in all mediation,
fact-finding, and arbitration cases as well as in all labor
disputes;
(4) Conduct systematic reviews of collective bargaining
agreements for the purpose of contract negotiations;
(5) Coordinate the systematic compilation of data by all
agencies that is required for negotiating purposes;
(6) Prepare and submit an annual report and other reports
as requested to the governor and the general assembly on the
implementation of this chapter and its impact upon state
government.
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Sec. 5126.24. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "License" means an educator license issued by the
state board of education under section 3319.22 of the Revised
Code or a certificate issued by the department of developmental
disabilities.
(2) "Teacher" means a person employed by a county board of
developmental disabilities in a position that requires a
license.
(3) "Nonteaching employee" means a person employed by a
county board of developmental disabilities in a position that
does not require a license.
(4) "Years of service" includes all service described in
division (A) of section 3317.13 of the Revised Code the
following:
(a) All years of teaching service in the same school
district or educational service center, regardless of training
level, with each year consisting of at least one hundred twenty
days under a teacher's contract;
(b) All years of teaching service in a chartered,
nonpublic school located in Ohio as a teacher licensed pursuant
to section 3319.22 of the Revised Code or in another public
school, regardless of training level, with each year consisting
of at least one hundred twenty days under a teacher's contract;
(c) All years of teaching service in a chartered school or
institution or a school or institution that subsequently became
chartered or a chartered special education program or a special
education program that subsequently became chartered operated by
the state or by a subdivision or other local governmental unit
of this state as a teacher licensed pursuant to section 3319.22
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of the Revised Code, regardless of training level, with each
year consisting of at least one hundred twenty days;
(d) All years of active military service in the armed
forces of the United States, as defined in section 3307.75 of
the Revised Code, to a maximum of five years. For purposes of
this calculation, a partial year of active military service of
eight continuous months or more in the armed forces shall be
counted as a full year .
(B) Subject to rules established by the director of
developmental disabilities pursuant to Chapter 119. of the
Revised Code, each county board of developmental disabilities
shall annually adopt separate salary schedules for teachers and
nonteaching employees.
(C) The teachers' salary schedule shall provide for
increments based on training and years of service. The board may
establish its own service requirements provided no teacher
receives less than the salary the teacher would be paid under
section 3317.13 of the Revised Code if the teacher were employed
by a school district board of education and provided full credit
for a minimum of five years of actual teaching and military
experience as defined in division (A) of such section service is
given to each teacher.
Each teacher who has completed training that would qualify
the teacher for a higher salary bracket pursuant to this section
shall file by the fifteenth day of September with the fiscal
officer of the board, satisfactory evidence of the completion of
such additional training. The fiscal officer shall then
immediately place the teacher, pursuant to this section, in the
proper salary bracket in accordance with training and years of
service. No teacher shall be paid less than the salary to which
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the teacher would be entitled under section 3317.13 of the
Revised Code if the teacher were employed by a school district
board of education.
The superintendent of each county board, on or before the
fifteenth day of October of each year, shall certify to the
state board of education and the department of education and
workforce the name of each teacher employed, on an annual
salary, in each special education program operated pursuant to
section 3323.09 of the Revised Code during the first full school
week of October. The superintendent further shall certify, for
each teacher, the number of years of training completed at a
recognized college, the degrees earned from a college recognized
by the department of education and workforce, the type of
license held, the number of months employed by the board, the
annual salary, and other information that the department may
request.
(D) The nonteaching employees' salary schedule established
by the board shall be based on training, experience, and
qualifications with initial salaries no less than salaries in
effect on July 1, 1985. Each board shall prepare and may amend
from time to time, specifications descriptive of duties,
responsibilities, requirements, and desirable qualifications of
the classifications of employees required to perform the duties
specified in the salary schedule. All nonteaching employees
shall be notified of the position classification to which they
are assigned and the salary for the classification. The
compensation of all nonteaching employees working for a
particular board shall be uniform for like positions except as
compensation would be affected by salary increments based upon
length of service.
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On the fifteenth day of October of each year the
nonteaching employees' salary schedule and list of job
classifications and salaries in effect on that date shall be
filed by each board with the superintendent of public
instruction and the department. If such salary schedule and
classification plan is not filed, the director of education and
workforce shall order the board to file such schedule and list
forthwith. If this condition is not corrected within ten days
after receipt of the order from the director, no money shall be
distributed to the board under Chapter 3317. of the Revised Code
until the director has satisfactory evidence of the board's full
compliance with such order.
Sec. 5705.412. (A) As used in this section, "qualifying
contract" means any agreement for the expenditure of money under
which aggregate payments from the funds included in the school
district's five-year forecast under section 5705.391 of the
Revised Code will exceed the lesser of the following amounts:
(1) Five hundred thousand dollars;
(2) One per cent of the total revenue to be credited in
the current fiscal year to the district's general fund, as
specified in the district's most recent certificate of estimated
resources certified under section 5705.36 of the Revised Code.
(B)(1) Notwithstanding section 5705.41 of the Revised
Code, no school district shall adopt any appropriation measure,
make any qualifying contract, or increase during any school year
any wage or salary schedule unless there is attached thereto a
certificate, signed as required by this section, that the school
district has in effect the authorization to levy taxes including
the renewal or replacement of existing levies which, when
combined with the estimated revenue from all other sources
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available to the district at the time of certification, are
sufficient to provide the operating revenues necessary to enable
the district to maintain all personnel and programs for all the
days set forth in its adopted school calendars for the current
fiscal year and for a number of days in succeeding fiscal years
equal to the number of days instruction was held or is scheduled
for the current fiscal year, as follows:
(a) A certificate attached to an appropriation measure
under this section shall cover only the fiscal year in which the
appropriation measure is effective and shall not consider the
renewal or replacement of an existing levy as the authority to
levy taxes that are subject to appropriation in the current
fiscal year unless the renewal or replacement levy has been
approved by the electors and is subject to appropriation in the
current fiscal year.
(b) A certificate attached, in accordance with this
section, to any qualifying contract shall cover the term of the
contract.
(c) A certificate attached under this section to a wage or
salary schedule shall cover the term of the schedule.
If the board of education has not adopted a school
calendar for the school year beginning on the first day of the
fiscal year in which a certificate is required, the certificate
attached to an appropriation measure shall include the number of
days on which instruction was held in the preceding fiscal year
and other certificates required under this section shall include
that number of days for the fiscal year in which the certificate
is required and any succeeding fiscal years that the certificate
must cover.
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The certificate shall be signed by the treasurer and
president of the board of education and the superintendent of
the school district, unless the district is in a state of fiscal
emergency declared under Chapter 3316. of the Revised Code. In
that case, the certificate shall be signed by a member of the
district's financial planning and supervision commission who is
designated by the commission for this purpose.
(2) In lieu of the certificate required under division (B)
of this section, an alternative certificate stating the
following may be attached:
(a) The contract is a multi-year contract for materials,
equipment, or nonpayroll services essential to the education
program of the district;
(b) The multi-year contract demonstrates savings over the
duration of the contract as compared to costs that otherwise
would have been demonstrated in a single year contract, and the
terms will allow the district to reduce the deficit it is
currently facing in future years as demonstrated in its five-
year forecast adopted in accordance with section 5705.391 of the
Revised Code.
The certificate shall be signed by the treasurer and
president of the board of education and the superintendent of
the school district, unless the district is in a state of fiscal
emergency declared under Chapter 3316. of the Revised Code. In
that case, the certificate shall be signed by a member of the
district's financial planning and supervision commission who is
designated by the commission for this purpose.
(C) Every qualifying contract made or wage or salary
schedule adopted or put into effect without such a certificate
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shall be void, and no payment of any amount due thereon shall be
made.
(D) The department of education and workforce and the
auditor of state jointly shall adopt rules governing the methods
by which treasurers, presidents of boards of education,
superintendents, and members of financial planning and
supervision commissions shall estimate revenue and determine
whether such revenue is sufficient to provide necessary
operating revenue for the purpose of making certifications
required by this section.
(E) The auditor of state shall be responsible for
determining whether school districts are in compliance with this
section. At the time a school district is audited pursuant to
section 117.11 of the Revised Code, the auditor of state shall
review each certificate issued under this section since the
district's last audit, and the appropriation measure, contract,
or wage and salary schedule to which such certificate was
attached. If the auditor of state determines that a school
district has not complied with this section with respect to any
qualifying contract or wage or salary schedule, the auditor of
state shall notify the prosecuting attorney for the county, the
city director of law, or other chief law officer of the school
district. That officer may file a civil action in any court of
appropriate jurisdiction to seek a declaration that the contract
or wage or salary schedule is void, to recover for the school
district from the payee the amount of payments already made
under it, or both, except that the officer shall not seek to
recover payments made under any collective bargaining agreement
entered into under Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code. If the
officer does not file such an action within one hundred twenty
days after receiving notice of noncompliance from the auditor of
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state, any taxpayer may institute the action in the taxpayer's
own name on behalf of the school district.
(F) This section does not apply to any contract or
increase in any wage or salary schedule that is necessary in
order to enable a board of education to comply with division (B)
of section 3317.13 of the Revised Code, provided the contract or
increase does not exceed the amount required to be paid to be in
compliance with such divisionthat section.
(G) Any officer, employee, or other person who expends or
authorizes the expenditure of any public funds or authorizes or
executes any contract or schedule contrary to this section,
expends or authorizes the expenditure of any public funds on the
void contract or schedule, or issues a certificate under this
section which contains any false statements is liable to the
school district for the full amount paid from the district's
funds on the contract or schedule. The officer, employee, or
other person is jointly and severally liable in person and upon
any official bond that the officer, employee, or other person
has given to the school district to the extent of any payments
on the void claim, not to exceed ten thousand dollars. However,
no officer, employee, or other person shall be liable for a
mistaken estimate of available resources made in good faith and
based upon reasonable grounds. If an officer, employee, or other
person is found to have complied with rules jointly adopted by
the department of education and workforce and the auditor of
state under this section governing methods by which revenue
shall be estimated and determined sufficient to provide
necessary operating revenue for the purpose of making
certifications required by this section, the officer, employee,
or other person shall not be liable under this section if the
estimates and determinations made according to those rules do
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not, in fact, conform with actual revenue. The prosecuting
attorney of the county, the city director of law, or other chief
law officer of the district shall enforce this liability by
civil action brought in any court of appropriate jurisdiction in
the name of and on behalf of the school district. If the
prosecuting attorney, city director of law, or other chief law
officer of the district fails, upon the written request of any
taxpayer, to institute action for the enforcement of the
liability, the attorney general, or the taxpayer in the
taxpayer's own name, may institute the action on behalf of the
subdivision.
(H) This section does not require the attachment of an
additional certificate beyond that required by section 5705.41
of the Revised Code for current payrolls of, or contracts of
employment with, any employees or officers of the school
district.
This section does not require the attachment of a
certificate to a temporary appropriation measure if all of the
following apply:
(1) The amount appropriated does not exceed twenty-five
per cent of the total amount from all sources available for
expenditure from any fund during the preceding fiscal year;
(2) The measure will not be in effect on or after the
thirtieth day following the earliest date on which the district
may pass an annual appropriation measure;
(3) An amended official certificate of estimated resources
for the current year, if required, has not been certified to the
board of education under division (B) of section 5705.36 of the
Revised Code.
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Section 2. That existing sections 3317.14, 4117.10,
5126.24, and 5705.412 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. That section 3317.13 of the Revised Code is
hereby repealed.
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