What we learned about Ohio’s plan to add foster-care duties in every public school

MetroOhio State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells at the 2024 State of the State address in Columbus. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comBy Michael Johnson, cleveland.comcleveland.com Express DeskCLEVELAND, Ohio — Every Ohio public school building would have to designate someone to help students in foster care under a bill that has passed the state House, but schools would not have to hire someone new for the job.House Bill 25 would create a building-level “foster family navigator” responsible for helping foster-care students connect with services and participate in school. State analysts say the requirement could add work for some schools, but they did not calculate a statewide cost.These are five takeaways from the original article, which examined what schools would be required to do and what the mandate could cost.1. Schools would have to designate a navigator, not create a new positionHB 25 would require each school building to name a staff member as its foster family navigator.The requirement does not mandate hiring an additional employee or establishing a separately funded position. The Ohio Legislative Service Commission said many schools may already perform similar work through guidance counselors, social workers, deans, teacher leaders or other student-support employees.Schools that do not already perform the required duties “may need to do some additional work,” according to the commission.2. The workload could differ substantially from school to schoolOhio public schools served 14,455 students in foster care during the 2024-25 school year.Those students are not distributed evenly. A Legislative Service Commission fiscal note listed 539 foster-care students in Columbus City Schools, 523 in Cincinnati, 398 in Dayton, 290 in Cleveland, 289 in Toledo and 244 in Akron.The commission said the additional workload would depend partly on how many foster-care students attend each building. It did not put a statewide dollar figure on those additional duties.3. Navigators would work directly with students throughout the school yearThe position would involve more than serving as a name on a district contact list.Under the House-passed version of HB 25, navigators would have to engage with each foster-care student at least once per semester, help students obtain school and other services and support their participation in school activities.For high school students, navigators also would help identify resources for college and other education after graduation.4. The navigator would not replace an existing federally required liaisonPublic school districts and community schools already must designate foster-care education liaisons under federal law.Those liaisons work at the district or school-system level on issues such as enrollment, records transfers and transportation when foster-care placements change. HB 25 would add someone within each individual school building to serve as the direct contact for students.Because the district-level liaison already is federally required, the Legislative Service Commission said that portion of the bill is not expected to increase school costs.5. The requirement is not yet lawThe Ohio House has approved HB 25, but the Senate has not.The Senate Education Committee held hearings May 19 and June 2. As of Aug. 31, the Legislature’s committee record showed no subsequent hearing or action.Until the Senate acts and the bill completes the legislative process, schools are not required to designate the new building-level navigators.Michael Johnson brings nearly four decades of newspaper experience in reporting, editing, newsroom leadership, page design and digital publishing. He has led daily and weekly newsrooms in Pennsylvania,...