COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOWO)  — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a wide-ranging education bill into law, but the measure does not include proposed changes to the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights that had drawn significant attention during the legislative process. House Bill 455, signed by DeWine on F riday, increases the number of governor-appointed members on the Ohio State Board of Education, creates new restrictions involving educator licensing and adds testing requirements for online schools. The bill passed both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly on June 10 and is expected to take effect in about 90 days according to WCMH. When lawmakers first introduced House Bill 455 last year, the proposal included changes to procedures under Ohio’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, a law that requires schools to notify parents about certain issues involving a student’s health and well-being and allows parents to review and opt their children out of classroom instruction involving sexuality-related content. The original version would have continued requiring schools to notify parents if a student sought to identify differently from their sex assigned at birth. It also included an exception that would have allowed school staff to avoid notifying parents if they had a reasonable belief that doing so would place the student at imminent risk of harm. In those situations, staff would have been required to report the matter to law enforcement or child protective services. Those provisions were removed from the bill during a substitute version adopted by the House Education Committee in November. A spokesperson for state Rep. Gayle Manning, R-Avon, said the changes followed feedback from stakeholders involved in drafting the legislation as well as input from experts. The Parents’ Bill of Rights took effect in April 2025 and received criticism from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, who argued the law could force schools to disclose information about students’ gender identity and create safety concerns. Supporters said the law strengthened parental involvement in education and student welfare decisions. The newly signed law does include several other education-related changes. The legislation increases the number of governor-appointed members on the State Board of Education from five to seven. Any vacancies created under the new structure must be filled by Jan. 1, 2027. House Bill 455 also expands the list of offenses that can lead to automatic educator license revocation. Strangulation and grooming are now included alongside domestic violence as offenses that trigger mandatory action against an educator’s license. The law also adds strangulation, grooming and prostitution-related convictions to the list of offenses that prevent individuals from working in public schools, chartered nonpublic schools or educational service centers. The legislation provides additional protections for elected school board members who are deployed with the U.S. military or the Ohio National Guard, allowing them to maintain their positions during qualifying deployments. The law also establishes new requirements for online and computer-based community schools that allow students to complete state assessments remotely. Under the new rules, schools offering remote testing must maintain a ratio of one proctor for every 11 students or fewer. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce will also be required to publish an annual report reviewing remote testing data for possible signs of cheating or unusual performance patterns. In addition, House Bill 455 removes more than a dozen reporting requirements for school districts and the state education department, including some reports involving student diabetes cases, physical education benchmarks and compliance with certain state education mandates. Supporters of the legislation say the changes are intended to streamline education oversight, improve school accountability and strengthen student safety measures. The post Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Signs Education Bill Without Proposed Changes to Parents’ Bill of Rights appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less