OSCA Legislative Update
By Amanda Sines, OSCA Lobbyist | February 2020
Although the Legislature has just been in session for a few weeks so far in 2020, there is no shortage of issues OSCA’s lobbyists are tracking on behalf of school counselors across the state. First and foremost, we’re still hopeful to see additional movement on our bill to create a job description for school counselors, HB 367. That bill drew no opponent testimony at its third hearing on December 10, which is incredibly helpful for our efforts. Unfortunately, since returning from holiday recess, the Legislature has been majorly preoccupied with solving an emergency eligibility issue related to EdChoice scholarships, and that has been sucking up most of the air in the education policy space for the last several weeks. As a result, the House Primary & Secondary Education Committee has been sidetracked from other policy debates, including our bill. But in the interim, we are continuing to have conversations with lawmakers about HB 367, and hope to see additional movement on the bill in the near future.
OSCA had provided comments over the summer to ODE discouraging them from removing language in the Ohio Administrative Code that explicitly stated the internship requirement for school counselors in Ohio. In response, ODE had restored the language, which OSCA felt helped maintain clarity and prevent a lowering of standards for the school counselor profession. Those rules officially became effective on December 20, so we are happy to report that the language we want will be the status quo for the foreseeable future.
House Bill 12, creating the Ohio Children's Behavioral Health Prevention Network Stakeholder Group, also was finalized at the end of last year. The bipartisan legislation tasks its Stakeholder Group with coordinating and planning the creation of a comprehensive learning network to support young children and their families in facilitating social, emotional, and behavioral development. It also seeks to reduce behavioral health disparities among young children. OSCA had testified in support of the bill during hearings in 2019. Now having the Governor’s signature, the bill will be effective March 19, 2020.
Finally, OSCA continues to track several bills related to bullying policies, health education standards and school violence. We are also watching SB 126, which was recently amended in committee. The bill now provides funding to ESCs just for social workers – instead of other mental health professionals – and authorizes the provision of crisis assessments to students who are a harm to themselves or others. If the bill continues to move, we will gauge the sponsor’s interest in incorporating school counselors into the legislation.
OSCA had provided comments over the summer to ODE discouraging them from removing language in the Ohio Administrative Code that explicitly stated the internship requirement for school counselors in Ohio. In response, ODE had restored the language, which OSCA felt helped maintain clarity and prevent a lowering of standards for the school counselor profession. Those rules officially became effective on December 20, so we are happy to report that the language we want will be the status quo for the foreseeable future.
House Bill 12, creating the Ohio Children's Behavioral Health Prevention Network Stakeholder Group, also was finalized at the end of last year. The bipartisan legislation tasks its Stakeholder Group with coordinating and planning the creation of a comprehensive learning network to support young children and their families in facilitating social, emotional, and behavioral development. It also seeks to reduce behavioral health disparities among young children. OSCA had testified in support of the bill during hearings in 2019. Now having the Governor’s signature, the bill will be effective March 19, 2020.
Finally, OSCA continues to track several bills related to bullying policies, health education standards and school violence. We are also watching SB 126, which was recently amended in committee. The bill now provides funding to ESCs just for social workers – instead of other mental health professionals – and authorizes the provision of crisis assessments to students who are a harm to themselves or others. If the bill continues to move, we will gauge the sponsor’s interest in incorporating school counselors into the legislation.