By Anna Huntsman/Broadcast version by Mary Kuhlman
Reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration

A new Ohio law is making millions available for schools to implement new safety measures, such as training new school resource officers.

In addition to authorizing $14 million in grant funds for schools, House Bill 318 requires new school resource officers (SROs) – law enforcement officers who serve full-time in school buildings – to participate in at least 40 hours of training through an Ohio peace officer training commission-approved organization. They must also undergo juvenile psychology training to better respond to adolescent mental health and drug use, and “to not only be law enforcement, but also to be on the cutting edge of issues students might have and ward them off before they become major problems,” said Ohio state Rep. John Patterson, D-Jefferson, who co-sponsored the bill.

The bill does not mandate that schools hire an SRO; rather, it defines duties and qualifications for new SROs. Some of the SRO expectations listed in the bill include being a “positive role model for youth,” helping to maintain a “drug-free environment” among students, and assisting with an “emergency management plan.”

While the bill is the first Ohio law to define what it means to be a school resource officer, not all SROs do their jobs the same way.

Officer Jason Fogleman serves as the SRO for Streetsboro City Schools in Portage County. Like many SROs, he is a uniformed police officer equipped with a gun, trained to respond to threats in the district, but he said that is only part of his job description.

“A lot of people think an SRO is just there for security. That’s a very minor part of the job that we do. It’s almost secondary,” Fogleman said. “School resource officers provide that link between the child’s education, their family life and the real world they’re going to be entering.”

Fogleman said that while the law could help smaller schools afford qualified SROs, he worries about government interference in a job that is so broadly defined.

“My job and my role is so broad with our school district and I have such leeway to do so many different things that I’m afraid if we start mandating certain things,” he said, “is that going to take away some of the stuff that I can do?”

The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Sarah LaTourette, R-Chesterland, said the law requires schools to adopt a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with their SRO, allowing school districts to monitor them and their security officers the best way it works for them.

“It’s not the state coming in and saying you have to do A, B, C and D,” she said. “It’s saying that you have to have this contract with the school district you’re going to be in defining what your role is going to be.”

Gov. John Kasich signed H.B. 318 on Aug. 3, and it will take effect Nov. 2. Only eight other states have similar legislation.

The bill was partially inspired by the shooting at Chardon High School in Geauga County that killed three students and injured three more in February 2012. At the time, the school district did not have an SRO, but Frank Hall, an assistant football coach at the time, chased the shooter out of the building. His actions led to the creation of the Coach Hall Foundation.

Tim Armelli, a teacher at Chardon High School and the foundation’s president, said he approached Patterson, who represents Geauga County in the statehouse, about sponsoring legislation that would not only help fund SRO training, but first, define what the SRO’s responsibilities are. “Every school has the capability of getting an SRO in their building right away,” he said. “That would be a real quick way of helping, at least getting towards...keeping our kids protected.”

Patterson then asked LaTourette, his Republican counterpart in Geauga County, to co-sponsor the bill.

“We were very dedicated the entire time to making sure that regardless of what we added to the bill, that we kept a bill that both chambers, both parties, could be extremely proud of at the end of the day,” LaTourette said.

Before the law takes effect in November, the Ohio Attorney General’s office is developing the application process for schools interested in receiving some of the grant money.

“The money is very flexible, as long as it’s used for something that will protect kids,” Armelli said.

He hopes other states will pass similar legislation. “Our next step now is ... let’s show them what Ohio has done as a blueprint and get [other states] on board, too,” he said.

Armelli is especially excited to join Chardon’s students at the start of the new school year now that H.B. 318 passed. “I’m walking around with a little better step than I have in the last couple years, knowing that the bill passed,” he said. “I can look at these kids with a little different light. We’re doing things that are helping these kids.”

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This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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Indiana is rolling out a series of new education laws aimed at helping students succeed in and beyond the classroom.

The changes affect everything from attendance and academics to teacher pay and cybersecurity.

Tami Silverman, president and CEO of the nonprofit Indiana Youth Institute, said lawmakers responded to schools' concerns about chronic absenteeism.

"It was exciting to see that the legislature was really listening to the schools," Silverman explained. "Because we've heard, and schools have said repeatedly, that chronic absenteeism continues to be an issue."

New laws require schools to clearly define excused absences, publish attendance policies and offer better student support. High schoolers can now earn an Enrollment Honors Plus seal, combining academics, life skills and work experience. Students who earn it will be guaranteed admission to Indiana's public colleges.

Some educators said the new requirements may strain already limited school resources, especially in smaller districts that face staffing or funding challenges.

Silverman noted the changes are designed to help more students succeed, by doing such things as streamlining applications for college admission, military financial aid and paid internship programs.

"This is really exciting because we do know that sometimes those application processes can be a barrier," Silverman observed. "We want to remove those by setting kids up for success in high school."

Other laws raise the minimum teacher salary to $45,000 dollars, expand access to paid internships and require math screenings in early grades. Cybersecurity upgrades will be phased in by 2027.


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Many Texas students lose nearly 40% of what they learned during the year on summer break.

A new program in Arlington is helping kids avoid the "summer slide" by engaging them with creative projects which extend into the new school year.

Monroe Farbes, a 16-year-old International Baccalaureate participant, recently landed at the top of Amazon's list of young adult poetry with her new book "All I Know." She said the goal she set for herself last summer was to learn how to publish a book.

"Choosing to learn something and creating a product based off of what I learned, it helped me to learn critical thinking skills, research skills, time management skills, communications skills that were really, really useful," Farbes explained.

The International Baccalaureate program aims to prepare students for the future with real-world skills, global awareness and a love for learning, not just memorizing facts. After writing her first 20 poems last summer, the program gave Farbes time during the school day to write 35 more and then complete the formatting, marketing and other challenges involved with self-publishing.

There are many ways parents can help students avoid learning losses over the summer, and the Texas School for the Deaf offered tips. They recommended kids get outside and away from screens and they suggested parents give kids everyday lessons, like asking them to estimate the final bill while grocery shopping.

Farbes encouraged other young people to take on creative projects and to be curious about the world around them. She noted by the time you get to the end of her book, you realize the main character does not know everything.

"And that's OK, she's figuring it out," Farbes stressed. "Sometimes all you know is that you are just on your process to figuring it out. But make sure you remember everything that you learn."

Farbes's collection includes insights into the complexities of biracial identity, the joys of summer and sisterhood and the challenges of gardening. Here she reads her title poem, "All I Know."

"Familiar with myself, is the greatest gift on the shelf. Comfort in my own skin, who I am within, is all I'll have in the end. In that end, past all time, will I still be able to look myself in the eye?"


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Proposed federal legislation would expand school choice options for families to send their students to private schools or home educate them and the move could affect Arizona's current scholarship accounts.

Public school officials are pushing back. While Arizona parents can already get reimbursed for private and homeschool expenses, the Educational Choice for Children Act would create a tax credit for a similar purpose.

Brian Jodice, national press secretary for the American Federation for Children, said the measure is not a voucher program but a donor-driven initiative to provide families with more schooling options.

"It doesn't impact state budgets. It doesn't impact the federal budget. It allows people to donate to these scholarship granting organizations and get a tax credit, so (it) incentivizes the donors to go do that, which we think is a good thing," Jodice explained. "It also incentivizes families to be able to go apply for it and let their students benefit from it."

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said at least 138 million people nationwide could be eligible for the tax credit. States must opt in to participate.

Arizona public education officials have said its private school funding comes at the expense of K-12 schools. Demand for the program far outpaced what the state had budgeted in the first year alone and demand has continued to grow.

Maura McInerney, legal director at the Education Law Center, called the national program a tax shelter to benefit wealthy people at the expense of public schools.

"We've seen this occur in other states and there's no accountability for these dollars and how they're spent," McInerney pointed out. "The only criterion for receiving a voucher is actually a high family income limit. So essentially this money will potentially benefit students who are already in private schools."

The nationwide program would cost the federal government at least $100 billion per year.


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