Ohio Senate Education Committee - 6-2-2026

Present. Here.

Thank you, Chair Brenner. Vice Chair Blessing and Ranking Member Ingram and members of the Senate Education Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsor testimony on Senate Bill 442, the Food Literacy Standards Act. Senate Bill 442 is a bipartisan, forward-thinking measure designed to prepare Ohio students for healthy, productive lives through practical education that connects nutrition, agriculture, wellness, and real-world decision-making. My esteemed colleague, joint sponsor Kent Smith, and I were recently recognized by the Children's Hunger Alliance as one of the legislators of the year for efforts to address child hunger and food insecurity in Ohio. While I am grateful for that recognition, it also reinforces the important truth that solving hunger is not simply about access to food. It's also about education, knowledge, and long-term prevention. Food literacy helps bridge that gap. Senate Bill 442 establishes age-appropriate food literacy standards for students in grades K-12 to increase understanding of nutrition, healthy eating habits, food preparation, agriculture, food systems, and where our food comes from. The legislation also encourages collaboration between the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to ensure instruction reflects both sound educational practices and Ohio's agricultural strengths. This bill is rooted in one simple idea. Preparing students for the future should include teaching practical life skills. Students are taught mathematics to manage finances, science to understand the natural world, and civics to become informed citizens. Food literacy simply equips young people with the knowledge that they will use every day how nutrition affects physical, mental health, and how food choices impact long-term wellness and how agriculture connects to their lives and communities. This is especially important in Ohio because Ohio, like much of the nation, continues to face growing health concerns tied to poor nutrition and chronic disease. Conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension carry significant consequences for families, workforce productivity, health care systems, and educational outcomes. Early exposure to healthy habits and nutrition education can help students develop informed decision-making skills before unhealthy patterns become lifelong challenges. Importantly, Senate Bill 442 is not intended to create unnecessary mandates or burdens on educators or school districts. Instead it provides a framework for age instruction that can complement existing educational goals and support schools in equipping students with practical applicable knowledge This legislation also recognizes Ohio's unique identity as an agricultural state. Ohio is the seventh largest producer of corn and soybeans in our nation. Our state is home to approximately 75,000 farms, spanning more than 14 million acres. Agriculture contributes more than $124 billion annually to Ohio's economy, and Ohio remains a national leader in products including eggs, tomatoes, and grapes. Yet many young people grow up disconnected from the very systems that feed their families and drive our economy. Food literacy helps students understand and appreciate the role of agriculture, farming, food production, and the hardworking individuals who sustain our communities. It strengthens awareness of Ohio's agricultural heritage while helping students make informed choices about health and nutrition. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and as someone committed to strengthening Ohio's families, I believe education should prepare students not only for careers in college but also for life. Food literacy is about more than just what's on a plate. It's about health, responsibility, critical thinking, agriculture, and empowering the next generation with practical skills and knowledge that supports lifelong well-being. Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, and Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee, thank you for your consideration of Senate Bill 442. I respectfully ask for your favorable consideration of this legislation, and I'll now turn it over to my joint sponsor for additional comments.

Thank you, Senators. Are there any questions from committee members? Ranking Member Ingram.

Follow-up?

You're right. We don't have health standards either. So the question becomes, are students already learning about nutrition in some way, even if it's in their science class or, I know, in elementary school? And I guess maybe my concern is that when we start talking standards, we start talking testing. Testing then means that we have to prepare and therefore be, those students be prepared to take a test on their nutrition. And what I'm hoping to see, and maybe I'll get with the Department of Education and Workforce later, is how they're going to blend this into what some districts already do. Kids are growing things in boxes outside, and there's some schools that have little farms of their own where they're doing so. I don't want this to become I only want it to feel like it's another mandate even though it is being mandated to the department but I want to make sure that it blends in with work that's already being done. Obviously I would invite my joint sponsor to share her thoughts also but that being said this is not designed to put any additional burdens on any of the public school districts. This is designed to have the Department of Education and Workforce think about what are science-based standards as to their age-appropriate for learning so that kids can learn about the impacts of food and making healthy dietary choices and all of that. Because we feel like they're not getting that right now. In the same way, the reason I paralleled it to financial literacy is one of the reasons that financial literacy has been a discussion among the Ohio General Assembly is I think all of us as adults recognize how much better off we would be if we would have gotten this as kids. That's the same principle that I think we're bringing to this topic, which is we don't want to turn this into an exam. We don't want to turn this into a mandate. We recognize that Ohio's future leaders will be better equipped and live longer, healthier lives if they just learn this stuff. And we don't think they're getting it right now. And we think that it should be, that it's important enough that we would like to see grade-specific standards that then, after those are developed, I think school systems would look at that and say, we need to pull some of this into our curriculum.

Would this require like what we did as kids? You had a home ec back in the 1980s, early 90s, and that went away, so kids were actually learning how to cook foods as opposed to go out and get fast food meals every day. Would that be part of what you're looking to do here?

All right.

Seeing no other questions, thank you, Senators. Yes, we can do that. All right, we'll do that then. All right. With that, that will conclude the first hearing on Senate Bill 442. Up next is Senate Bill 332 for its first hearing, Senators Katrona and Smith again. Welcome back to committee, and you may proceed when ready.

Thank you, Senator. Is there any questions from committee members?

I think the legislation that was originally put in place, I think it came from a good place. I think the idea was that we want to help schools improve. We want to make sure that children have the best and brightest future possible. I think it's also fair to say that every community is different, and some communities are plagued with unique obstacles that are in front of them. And so I think there's not a cookie-cutter approach that we can really take. And so all I can say is that with the trends that we're making in this, at least in Youngstown specifically, which is the only school, by the way, that's still in this takeover, you know, we've seen major increases of over 20 percent from 21 to 22. And so a lot of this performance improvement has been since we've had, you know, we haven't had a CEO. We've given it back to the school board members. I think that there's a lot of efforts that we've made as a state legislature from 2007 that has helped out dramatically where I think that we've recognized some shortfalls. And so I think that collectively I think it's fair to say that we've taken a lot of steps as a state, and I think it's important to let that play out. And if we need to reassess, we can always do so. All right. Well, thank you for your testimony today. This will conclude the first hearing on Senate Bill 332. Up next, we'll have a presentation from the Department of Education and Workforce on the English Language Arts and Social Studies updated curriculum, I guess. If you would, come on forward. I don't know who wants to start first. I've got Chris Woolard and I've got Melissa Mayer. Feel free to start, Chris. And then I think we've got some stuff on the iPads and up on the TV. So for the members, the presentations are on the bottom of your iPads. You may proceed. Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation. Are there any questions from committee members?

Chair Brenner, make sure I understand that correctly. So again, what we tried to do is simulate, again, where we were versus what we could anticipate. Again, I think what we could do is moving forward. We don't have all this year's data yet. We could run both those numbers. I would argue that it's a substantially different measure. I mean, what that third piece is not, you know, when the third grade reading guarantee was in place, we were looking at, you know, how many students were being promoted. That is, you know, based on changes to that particular law, that's not really in place anymore. So it's really measuring two different things. And so I think, you know, as a starting spot, this is a fair starting spot, but at the same time, we want to make sure that we're having high expectations. You know, so you don't want to have a situation where basically everybody tanks on this, But we want to make sure that we're adjusting that moving forward. So we want to continue, for example, to have data to look at this in different ways and maybe even potentially a few years down the road update that rule if necessary.

Chair Benner, I think, again, what we would encourage schools and districts and communities to do, this is report card data that will come out in September. Similar to all the data on the report card, digging in to sort of understand where are the strengths and where are the challenges. If you're a school building, and again, based on this data, there are going to be lots of schools and buildings who have a lot of work to do. Digging into that data and understanding why, because again, this is connected to performance on third grade. It's connected to that diagnostic data that happens in the fall, which then triggers reading improvement and monitoring plans. So if districts and schools are struggling in certain areas, are those interventions that are laid out in the REMPs working and reflecting on that? And I think that really, and again, that sort of segues into all the work on literacy to make sure that, okay, we're doing the right things about implementing the science of reading. We're making sure that those individual plans are effective. And if, in fact, things need to be changed at an individual level, it should be reflecting on that data.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram. I am Dr. Melissa Weber-Mayor, there you go, Chief Academic Officer for the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, and I appreciate the opportunity to present to you today Ohio's updated learning standards for English language arts and social studies, as well as an integrated model curriculum that integrates social studies and English language arts. All right, so I'm going to start with the social studies standards, and this slide is just a reminder that the last time these were adopted were in February of 2018. So it is due, it is timely, and we have done some work. The next slide moves into what we've done as far as strengthening the social studies standards for K through 8, grades kindergarten through 8. We have made more connections to Ohio period to expand students knowledge of Ohio history So currently in those 2017 standards Ohio history fell in fourth grade and so it kind of all fell on the fourth grade teacher to teach all Ohio history. We've now embedded Ohio history starting in kindergarten and going past the fourth grade all the way to eighth grade. We've also elevated civic skills and more opportunities to learn about founding documents. We've made connections to the science of reading through stronger alignment of social studies and literacy skills, so the importance of vocabulary and background knowledge when learning social studies content. And then we worked to streamline the standards. So one feedback from the educators were that there were too many social studies standards and it was too hard to teach them all in one year in the grade bands. So we deleted those that were redundant. The timeline that we went through was we started last summer, in summer of 2025, reviewing those current standards one by one. We gather teachers and educators together and experts to work on the K-8, not rewriting, strengthening of those standards. In winter, we held focus groups and feedback surveys, put out feedback surveys and got public comment on the social studies standards drafts. And in spring, we've used that feedback to update those standards and bring them forth to you today. So the social studies feedback that we received from educators included positives and then also areas that we could improve based on the draft that was presented to the public. The positives were clear and concise content knowledge and skill development. They liked the Ohio history connection starting in kindergarten and continuing on. Civics engagement opportunities were also a plus. And then the vertical articulation of skills across the grade levels, the educators could see how first grade skills built on kindergarten skills, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, all the way up. The improvements that suggestions that they made to the department team was to clarify the clarity of to still further clarify skills and content statements, to connect students to Ohio history outside of the classroom, so not just inside the classroom through the standards, but outside, and to better integrate with literacy given all the work that's been done with literacy over the last three years and the requirements around curriculum materials, et cetera. So the next slide in the document that you have, I believe, is a color-coded document of the changes to the standards. And the keys are, the yellow are where we have changed. The content remained unchanged, but we clarified language. The red, the content still remained unchanged, but we made more significant language changes. And the green are new standards that were added. So this slide just shows you an example from grade one, grade three, and grade eight. It's not the same standard. It's different. But how that looks when we were talking about content unchanged but significant language change in the first. So where in 2018, the standard for grade one was talking about responsibility to take action towards achievement of common goals in homeschools and community. The updated language reflects positive citizenship qualities that includes individuals making responsible choices, being accountable for their actions, and respecting the rights of others. In grade three once the standard read local communities change over time which was very broad so we changed that to give the Ohio focus or actually we added that and added a standard to focus on Ohio Local communities have challenges and opportunities that are shaped by their history And then in the final column there for grade 8 is an example of where we clarified language there in the top and made some significant change in the bottom by adding a specific Northwest Ordinance there to be more specific for educators. So with that, I'm going to move to the ELA standards update. And again, here's the cover of the current ELA standards, and they were adopted in February of 2017. So given all of the work that we've done across Ohio with the science of reading and the passing of the dyslexia laws, we know that it was time to revise and strengthen these standards as well to reflect those changes. So, okay, here we go. The significant changes in literacy instruction through all of the ReadOhio initiatives inform the changes here. We aligned the standards with the expectations for high-quality instructional materials. So all of our districts across Ohio are required to use high-quality instructional materials that are aligned to Ohio standards. Those were reviewed to align to standards, and now our standards are even stronger to reflect the high-quality instructional materials. We also added writing foundations through kindergarten through grade 8 and the basics of handwriting and spelling. The timeline for this looked very similar to our social studies updates. Summer of 2025, we reviewed standard by standard, except with the ELA standards, we broke them into chunks. So in the fall, we worked on the K-2 revisions with educator input, focus groups, and survey feedback. In the winter, we did grades 3 through 8 revisions with educator focus groups, feedback, and input. And then spring, we are here sharing with you the final draft of those versions. For the English language arts standards, the feedback positive were they really liked the clarity and handwriting standards. The vertical articulation of skills and contents across grade level were more clear. And the alignment to science of reading was much appreciated and reflected within the standards. Improvement from our educators were the alignment of reading foundations and writing foundations across K-5. They wanted to see those foundational skills extend through grade 8. And therefore, we met that with them. We looked at that.

And Takesha Boone with the Junior League of Columbus. Good afternoon. My name is Takesha Boone and on the docket also is my daughter Janae Boone. Janae had six fillings this morning. She's not feeling well. So I brought in one of my heavy hitters, Faith Claypool, Miss Portsmouth with the Miss America organization. organization, so she's going to speak on behalf of Janae when we get to that place. Also brought one of my foster kiddos, Priya Guzmier. You might have seen her give testimony before while it was on the House side. Priya's here as well to make sure that if you have any questions, we can answer those. You'll hear from some of my other friends as well, Brianna Booker and Julia Moreno. But Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram and members of the Senate Education Committee, thank you for the opportunity to offer proponent testimony on Substitute House Bill 25, the Fostering School Success Act. My name is Keisha Boone, as I mentioned earlier, and I am a foster care mom. I'm also the advocacy coordinator for the Junior League of Columbus. Through our program, Bridging the Gap, G-A-P, we guide, we advocate, and we provide for children in foster care, and those that are transitioning into adulthood. Over the past several months, I have been one of the organizers of our Fostering Potential Lecture Series. You may have seen it. It's on YouTube, and it's co-hosted by Action Ohio, the Children's Defense Fund Ohio, and the Junior League of Columbus. The series has done what House Bill 25 is asking Ohio to do. It brings forward youth voice. It brings schools, child welfare partners, and policymakers together to the same table to serve students in foster care. Across five sessions, the Fostering Potential Lecture Series, we have had 235 total registrations, 96 unique attendees, and more than 230 total YouTube views. Maybe you think that's small compared to your social media followers, but we're excited. We share these numbers because they show that people across Ohio really care about this issue. They want to learn from the best practices they can implement in their own communities, and they want to see policy change. The most important lessons have come from young people themselves. One of our foster alumni told us that she attended more than seven or eight high schools during her time in care. She left schools just before graduation the moment she aged out because she was missing more than half of the credits that she needed to graduate. In some placements, she waited 30 days and sometimes three months before school began again. She told us that she loved learning. She really did. But it was really discouraging when you fall behind, further and further behind, after each placement change with different foster families. She's now working towards her GED. Another young person switched schools mid-year and missed almost an entire geometry unit. No adult asked her, what are you working on? What do you need to stay on track? She nearly failed her sophomore year. She has since created videos explaining why foster students need trained adults in schools to help them navigate. Another student who learned about sudden school placement just before the end of the school year, went to each teacher and asked what he had to do to pass before leaving the next day. That burden should not fall on a child. Another alumni attended nine high schools, graduated with a 3.3 GPA, and later founded her own nonprofit. Her motto is simple. The system is not broken. It's disconnected. For students in foster care school can be the one steady place left for them The counselors who feel like family the teachers who know the child can succeed the IEP program team that understands a disability, the siblings in the same building, even when siblings live apart, or a friend group that makes a child want to show up for school. House Bill 25 names the adults responsible for protecting those lifelines. It creates district-level building responsibility. It makes training routine. It turns rights on paper into daily practice. A 10-year-old foster student in our series, one of my foster daughters that I spoke about, told us of dreams that she has to become a nurse. Students like her should not have to depend on luck, geography, or one heroic adult to stay on track. Please pass House Bill 25 soon and champion its inflammation in your own districts. Thank you.

Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of Substitute House Bill 25, the Fostering School Success Act. My name is Julia Marino, and I also help with advocacy for the Junior League of Columbus and co-organize the Fostering Potential series, which Keisha mentioned. Across our webinars, I've learned a lesson. Foster youth aren't failed because adults don't care. They're failed when caring adults must work inside systems that do not connect. That's why House Bill 25 matters. For a child in foster care sits between systems. There's child welfare with legal responsibility and urgent safety obligations. And then there's the schools with the more daily knowledge of the student. The teacher who interacts with the student daily. the coach and the team that forms the child support system, and the IEP team that knows what services are working for the child. Too often, we have learned that child welfare and education systems do not coordinate as effectively as they could at a local level. House Bill 25 addresses that problem. It creates clear points of contact before a crisis occurs. It tells adults, don't wait until a student misses weeks of school to exchange contact information and records. We need to remember that for many foster youth, school is a rare place which is still stable for them. I met a teenager who's especially close to her brother who has special needs. When he's upset, often only she's the one who can calm him down. But when she moved to a new placement and a new school, the loss was not only academic. It meant losing daily family contact. That's what school stability protects. Learning, services, relationships, and sometimes that only family bond a child still gets to see. One point has really stayed with me from the research, which is that school mobility ranks above poverty as a predictor of high school graduation. And we can see why. How is a young person supposed to graduate after four, five, six, or nine school moves? Keeping students in their school of origin when it in their best interest gives them the chance they need to stay on track It helps teachers counselors caseworkers and caregivers coordinate to make sure the child best interests are kept front and center. This bill has been through serious work, including seven House hearings, agency input, DCY and DEW expert testimony, proponent testimony, and many interested party meetings. After numerous iterations, it became the school stability bill before you. The House passed it in early March by a margin of 93 to 2. I understand that the legislative process takes time, but I feel these students do not have years to wait. With the summer approaching, they need these supports in the fall of 2026, not in 2027 or 2028. I respectfully ask this committee to report Substitute House Bill 25 favorably and help move it to the Senate floor for prompt passage. Thank you.

Chair Binner, Vice Chair Blessing, and Ranking Member Ingram, And the members of the Education Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of substitute House Bill 25, the Fostering School Success Act. My name is Faith Claypool. I am the current representative for Portsmouth, Ohio, in the upcoming Miss Ohio Scholarship Program. I am also the advocate and founder of Foster the Future, Be the Change in America's foster care system. As well as being an educator, I think the most important thing about me that you should know is that I have been a big sister to well over 60 cases that have come within my home growing up in a foster home. Today I'm testifying on behalf of Janae Boone. Janae Boone is a foster sister, a high school sophomore at Worthington Christian High School. The stakes are measurable. In 2022 to 2023, public high school students in foster care graduated on time nationally at 57.5%, compared with 86.7% for all students. In Ohio, the rate was 61% compared with the 86.2% for all students. Those gaps are not just educational statistics. To me, they are about whether students have steady adults, steady schools, and steady support when life is already unstable. They connect to homelessness, economic insecurity, and public assistance and justice system involvement. They show that systems have not provided steady support early enough. Federal law already recognizes that foster student education stability is a two-way system problem. In 2008, the Fostering Connections Act placed school stability duties on child welfare agencies. Case plans must address educational stability measurements placements and consider the child current school and agencies to coordinate with schools Then the ESSA signed in 2015 and implemented for those for these purposes in 2016 placed duties on the education side Schools must collaborate with child welfare partners, protect school of origin stability, enroll students immediately when a school change is necessary, move records quickly, identify points of contact and arrange transportation procedures. That structure matters because of child welfare. This makes it urgent placement decisions while schools hold daily educational knowledge, credits, IEPs, attendants, teachers, counselors, peer relationships, and activities. A child needs both systems to stay in the room. The federal law did not create a full implementation structure. the Government Accountability Office found major barriers, staff turnover, transportation challenges, cost questions, information sharing needs, point of contact challenges, and scattered technical assistance. In other words, the legal rights exist, but implementation has been a challenge. For homeless students, McKinney-Vento predictions can show us what happens when law creates clearer infrastructure. state coordinators, local liaisons, school of origin protections, immediate enrollment, transportation rules, dispute resolution procedures, monitoring and technical assistance. Schools know what to do. It should not be easier for the same young person to receive reliable service when identified as homeless than when identified as a student in foster care. Other states have responded by making federal protections more concrete in state law, and we would be happy to provide a list of peer states that have enhanced laws similar to House Bill 28, or House Bill 25, excuse me, House Bill 25 would do the same for Ohio. It makes existing rights visible, local, and more likely to reach the child. No student should lose credits, services, siblings, or trust because adults do not know whom to call. With summer approaching, these students need support in the fall of 2026, not 2027. Swift passage would give schools, districts, and agencies time to prepare for next year. Please pass House Bill 25 soon and make school stability real for students in foster care. Thank you.

Chair Brenner, Vice Chair, Blessing Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee, thank you for the opportunity to offer proponent testimony on Substitute House Bill 25, the Fostering Schools Success Act. My name is Lily Zetting. Seven years ago, I founded Fostering Hearts in honor of my two younger brothers who I was separated from after they entered foster care and I was adopted. Fostering Hearts is a service project I started with my Heaven Sent Mom to help children impacted by foster care feel seen, celebrated, and loved. People call her Brittany, but I call her Mom. My mom adopted me before I entered foster care myself. Because of her and because of my aunt, who has been a foster parent and advocate, I've seen how important caring adults can be in a child's life. Today, through Fostering Hearts, I create birthday bags, fill blessing boxes, create organized socks, drives, and volunteer to help children impacted by foster care. I am here because every child deserves stability, opportunity, and hope. I know children in foster care personally, and I have seen how difficult it can be when everything changes at once. I have two younger brothers who entered foster care and were placed in two separate homes. I have not seen them in more than six years. Also, I know children who have moved from home to home and school to school. Some lost teachers they trusted, friends they loved, sports teams they belonged to, and activities that helped them feel normal during hard times. When a child enters foster care so much, it's already uncertain. School should be the place that stays steady. School is more than classes. It is relationships, routines, teachers who believe in you, counselors who help you, and friends who make you feel like you belong. That is why House Bill 25 matters. When children lose those connections, it can make them feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and alone. This bill helps make sure there are people in schools whose job is to support students in foster care, help schools and agencies work together, and make sure children do not fall through cracks and placement change. Most importantly, it helps create consistency for children. and during some of the most difficult times in their life, children in foster care already face enough challenges. They should not have to worry about losing their education too. I'm grateful that Ohio is taking steps to better support these students and help them succeed not only in school but in life. I was lucky because I was adopted into a loving family. Not every child gets that outcome, but every child should have the chance to succeed in school. I respectfully ask you to support House Bill 25 and vote yes. Thank you for your time and for caring about Ohio's children. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Brenner, Vice Chair, Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram and members of the committee. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today in support of substitute House Bill 25. Before I begin, I have distributed a fact sheet about foster youth in schools that just gives some more information about the necessity of this bill. I apologize. I forgot to attach it to my testimony. But my name is Brianna Booker, and I am the Policy Associate for the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio, a statewide multi-issue child advocacy organization that has worked in this state for 45 years. We always say that our mission is to build community so that children grow up with dignity, with hope, and with joy. And we firmly believe that school stability is a foundational part of that vision, particularly for young people in foster care. A question we often heard in conversations about House Bill 25 and in our advocacy see is whether these supports already exist And the short answer is yes however only in some places and often inconsistently And so we know that where strong support systems exist, they deserve recognition and replication. However, too often in the state of Ohio, many students still experience gaps in support. And when those gaps appear, young people can and do fall through the cracks, as you can see in that fact sheet that I presented. And that uneven access is precisely why House Bill 25 is necessary. Hamilton County offers us a clear example of what is possible when systems are intentionally aligned as House Bill 25 would make it. So over the past two decades, that county has built a strong cross-sector partnership connecting child welfare, schools, juvenile court, legal aid, and other community partners. Through the Kids in School Rule Program, they have established consistent practices to support foster youth stability, including designated liaisons, child welfare education specialists, data sharing agreements, best interest determinations, and really coordinated transportation and other services. And the results of that speaks for itself. In the 2024 to 2025 school year, Hamilton County completed 922 best interest determinations and served over 600 students across Cincinnati Public, Northwest, and Wintonwood schools. Within Cincinnati Public Schools, seniors participating in the Kids in School Rule program graduated at a rate of 97%. House Bill 25 takes the lessons learned in places like Hamilton County and scales them statewide, ensuring that every district and every child, every school building, has someone who knows what to do and how to act when a student in foster care needs support. As you've heard from my colleagues, this need is echoed in our Fostering Potential series, which has highlighted challenges with school stability across the state. An example of that is an educational administrator from another Ohio community describing what he called a major epidemic in care, pointing to more than 100 group homes in his area, a single high school serving over 200 students connected to care, and court or court involvement, and young people being dropped off without any real support or resources. Members of the committee, this bill is extremely necessary. not only because of that, but also because it serves as a public safety measure. As you've heard, foster youth are more likely to experience homelessness and become involved in our juvenile justice system. And when foster youth experience repeated school disruptions, they become more likely to be disconnected from school and the support of adults who help keep them on track. This concern is consistent with findings from both the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2024, which highlighted how educational instability significantly increased risk factors tied to system involvement, and the Juvenile Law Center, which documented the link between school disruption, reduced engagement, and deeper justice system involvement for foster youth. So by promoting school stability, strengthening adult support systems, and connecting students to the services they need, House Bill 25 helps reduce the conditions that can lead to not only juvenile justice involvement, but also help foster youth more generally and increase the opportunities there are to help them thrive. And so lastly I just want to state that we stand in full support of House Bill 25 in its current form and we truly appreciate the progress it represents But at the same time I still want to note and be extremely clear that the key elements from the original proposal particularly the scholarship provisions for foster youth as outlined in Senate Bill 13 are still essential and should still be considered by this General Assembly. And so with that, thank you so much, and I welcome any questions at this time.

Excuse me. I actually don't have a question. I just want to say thank you, each of you, for coming in and your testimony. We appreciate that. It makes a difference. Thank you.

I'll say the same thing. Your testimony was very good, so I do appreciate everybody coming in today. So thank you very much. Thank you. It's important to us. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee. My name is Grace Martin, and I am a current student at the Amanda Clear Creek High School. Today, I am here to speak in favor of House Bill 125. I believe that this House Bill will be beneficial to the thousands of students who participate in FFA and 4-H programs. These organizations provide opportunities that often extend beyond the traditional classroom setting. However, many students are still penalized for participating in these activities, as the absences can negatively affect their attendance records and, in some cases, their grades. House Bill 125 would help ensure that students are not unfairly disadvantaged while engaging in educational experiences that contribute to their personal and professional development. As an officer and active member of my FFA chapter, I have seen firsthand why this legislation is needed. Through FFA, members are able to go to leadership conferences, conventions, competitions, and many other ag-related experiences. These include national and state FFA convention, machinery shows, and career development events. National FFA convention is a great opportunity for students to meet with FFA members from all over the country and foster meaningful connections. Through its leadership workshops and powerful keynote speakers, national convention has enhanced my leadership skills and strengthened my ability to connect with my community. However, this experience does cause me to miss several days of school every year. And although my school district excuses these days, I know not every school does. I believe that National Convention is a great experience that everyone should have the opportunity to attend, without the fear of being penalized. Another part of FFA that has had a strong impact on my life are the career development events, also known as CDEs. CDEs not only prepare students for their future but also allow them to explore an agricultural related industry before college Students can participate in CDE contests such as veterinary science wildlife management farm business management and many other agricultural careers The CDE that has had the biggest impact on my life is the Agricultural Issues Forum. In this contest, a team of four to seven members give a 15-minute debate-style presentation over an agricultural-related topic. This contest has not only strengthened my confidence, but also taught me what hard work and dedication truly are. Through this contest, our team had to miss school to give our presentation to people such as the Ohio Soybean Council, Ohio House Rep Kevin Miller, and Ohio Senator Tim Schaefer. My team also got the opportunity to compete at the Big E regional competition in West Springfield, Massachusetts. I also got the opportunity to advocate for agricultural education and career tech on a federal level in Washington, D.C. While there, I got to speak to Ohio Senator John Husted and multiple congressmen and women over how FFA has impacted my life. Opportunities such as these would not have been possible if learning was confined to our classroom. Real-world lessons sometimes cannot be taught in a classroom, but instead have to be experienced. Allowing opportunities like the ones I have shared to not penalize students will truly benefit FFA and 4-H members for the better. By voting for House Bill 125, you will help ensure that students are recognized and supported for learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom. I would like to thank you for your time and for allowing me to speak on a topic that has impacted my life so heavily. Thank you.

Welcome to committee, and you may proceed when ready. Good afternoon, Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee. My name is Samantha Buckley, and I am Vice President of the Amanda Clear Creek FFA Chapter. I am here to testify in favor of House Bill 125 and share my experiences in FFA. In addition to FFA, I participate in multiple other activities, including band, sports, student

Thank you very much for your testimony. Any questions from committee members?

Yeah, so for me personally, including National Convention, State Convention, the National Farm Machinery Show, and the Farm Science Review, I would probably say around seven, probably ten at the max, depending. It also depends for each FFA member, depending on how much they participate in. So the National Convention and State Convention are both optional trips, but if you choose to attend, that's about two days out for State Convention and probably three for National Convention.

Yeah, so that's just a single day.

Yes.

it is a learning day for the most part, the whole day? Of course, yes. So when we attend the Farm Science Review, we have to attend multiple lectures and stuff and demonstrations where we'll write notes and take notes so that we display our new learnings and understandings of agricultural techniques.

Well, thank you very much for your questions and testimony today. Thank you Up next is Bella Metz Welcome to committee and you may proceed when ready Good afternoon Chair Brenner Vice Chair Blessing Ranking Member Ingram and members of the Senate

Thank you very much for your testimony today. Any questions from committee members? Ranking Member Ingram.

And remember, those days go along with every other day, the holidays and things of that nature.

I think it can get to a certain point that it's a lot of days, but I truly do think that missing school for FFA events, like these conventions and everything that I talked about, is a great learning experience and it definitely goes beyond what people learn in a classroom and allows people to get hands-on experiences about FFA and agriculture and it definitely allows for us young high school age kids to learn more and be more involved with our community.

I'm assuming it was the Ohio State FFA degree. Yeah, I believe it is. Yes. So there's a lot of degrees that FFA has. So first is greenhand, and then there's chapter degree, state degree, which is the highest that Ohio has. And then there's the American degree. So you get your greenhand degree normally during your freshman year, and then your chapter degree during your sophomore year of high school. And then regularly people tend to get their state degree during their junior or senior years or one year after their graduation. and there's a lot of hard work. Only 2% of Ohio FFA members earn their state degree as of 2026. And there's just a lot of work put into getting the state degree. You have to meet several requirements that you can find in the FFA handbook. And then you also have to have an SAE, which is a supervised agricultural experience. And then you have to document all of that into AET, which is your agricultural education tracker. and it allows for everybody to see what all you're doing in your agricultural-related field and how you understand FFA and agriculture and how it works. Okay, well, that answers that. Thank you very much.

Thank you, guys.

Good afternoon, Chair Brenner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee. My name is Hannah Psalm, and I am here today to speak in favor of House Bill 125. I graduated from Amanda Clerk Creek High School in Fairfield County back in 2023. Throughout my time in the education system, I had the opportunity to participate in a variety of co- and extracurricular activities that have greatly developed me into the young woman that I have become today. I was an active 4-H member, a varsity cheerleader, band member, part of the National Honor Society, and FFA member, to name a few of those organizations that had the most impact on my life. One of the most monumental, though, was my time in FFA. At the end of my junior year of high school, I was elected to serve as the 2022-2023 Ohio FFA State Vice President. While I was incredibly excited for this opportunity, it did create a new challenge, completing my high school education while also working to serve the then 28,000 FFA members across the state. My duties required me to travel around Ohio to host leadership workshops throughout the school day for our members. Thankfully I had great support from Amanda Clear Creek and was able to fulfill these duties but House Bill 125 would have enhanced that experience even more for me I fully recognize not every student in Ohio will be elected to serve for state office, but there are numerous other activities within our organization that are beneficial for our students to attend. Two of those events include the national and state FFA conventions. Both of these events are held during the school year and often cause students to miss around five to six total days of school. Conventions are incredibly important for all students because they highlight opportunities that otherwise might go unnoticed. Not only do they honor award recipients, they also have college and career fairs, leadership workshops, and even announce student workforce opportunities. Many students, including myself, decided their next steps in life because of what they were able to experience at those events. Because of the experiences I had in FFA, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in agriculture, and when it came time to choose a school, I knew I wanted to leave Ohio to see what other opportunities awaited me. As many of you may know, though, out-of-state tuition is a large barrier preventing many students from attending their dream schools. However, I found many schools greatly valued the education I was able to receive outside of the classroom and offered me scholarships because of it. I ultimately decided to attend Texas A&M University and study animal science. After my first semester there, I was granted in-state tuition and additional scholarships specifically because of my time in FFA. These scholarship dollars have now totaled up to over $100,000 in my three years at Texas A&M. If it wasn't for my time and the organizations previously mentioned, this would have never happened. I strongly encourage you to consider the things you have learned outside the walls of a classroom. As many of us reflect, we might agree you tend to learn more when you are experiencing something, not just hearing about it. Whether that be how we raise crops and livestock, how to weld, or even how to grocery shop and plan a large meal, these are all things I was able to learn with the support of my agricultural educators, yet not within the confines of a traditional classroom. I would like to greatly thank you for the opportunity to share my story here today and strongly encourage you to vote in favor of House Bill 125 for the endless pathways it opens for Ohio students. Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Brenner, Ranking Member Ingram, other members of the Senate Education Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony for House Bill 125. My name is Evan Calico, and I'm proud to serve as the Director of State Policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau. The Ohio Farm Bureau has long supported FFA and 4-H's vital programs for agricultural education and workhorse development. I am also here representing the Ohio Association of Agricultural Educators, which represents our ag teachers and FFA advisors across the state. House Bill 125 will give students in both 4-H and FFA further opportunities to develop essential skills that allow them to be a vital part of Ohio's number one industry. FFA and 4-H have long provided students with a wealth of activities and experiences that help them learn life skills and develop essential leadership abilities. One such opportunity, specifically in FFA, is a supervised agricultural experience, or SAE. This is a part of the three-component model of agricultural education, with the other two opponents being classroom and lab instruction and engagement in various FFA activities such as contests and conventions. An SAE is experiential learning, either through service or work-based learning. These experiences can come in many forms, such as working in a local hardware store, starting a lawn care business, or like I did, beginning a livestock operation. My SAE involved managing a 100-head beef cattle herd that I owned and operated in partnership with my father. This business not only helped me raise money for my college education, but also taught me many essential life skills that prepared me for the workforce, including responsibility, time management, and accountability, just to name a few. However, an all-too-common problem is that these experiences often require a significant amount of time inside and outside of school. Students work diligently to balance these responsibilities, but sometimes events do arise during the school day. While some schools allow students to have excuse absences for these events, many do not. Consequently, students may miss valuable opportunities to expand their knowledge or engage in business activities and, in unfortunate cases, be penalized for a missing school. Students should not face penalties for striving to develop themselves as individuals through leadership organizations like FFA, 4-H, and as future contributors to our workforce. Under this bill, the students would be counted as present when participating in workforce preparation activities, which the bill does include 4-H and FFA, but it does include other, as the bill says, workforce preparation activities, such as internships, job shadowing, and other activities that would be approved by their individual school district. Counting students as present ensures that they will not be penalized for participating in activities that will help them become an integral part of our future workforce. As long as the students are in good academic and behavioral standing and not missing state testing, they should be able to build their futures without fear of penalization. We should welcome and celebrate every chance we can give our young people to prepare for the workforce. I know I've said this to the committee before, but I would not be standing in front of you today if it were not for career tech education and more specifically FFA and my career tech educators. My FFA advisor was the first one who taught me how to write a speech, how to weld, how to market a product, and how to care for the community I live in. They prepared me not only for my career, but to also be a better person in my adult life. This is not an uncommon story you would hear from students involved in ag. You just heard from four of them. All four of them were taught by the same man, and he is sitting here today, and he's one of the best FFA teachers we have in the state. And it's those people that I truly think deserve a lot of thanks for providing those opportunities to those students. But that's not involved with the bill, so sorry. Ohio Farm Bureau and OAE would like to thank Representatives Creech and Hall for introducing the legislation which will benefit great organizations like FFA and 4-H and prepare our students to be future leaders in their workforce. Thank you again for the opportunity to submit testimony.

What if FFA and 4-H had their own career readiness seals or were part of one? What would your thoughts be towards something like that and then not count it towards days excused?

All right. We may also reach out to the bill sponsors on that, too. So, yeah, ranking member Ingram.

Through the Chair, I would say, I don't think I have enough information to answer that. I don't know what that asterisk would be. I think we are fine with how it is under the bill, I think, just as present. But, again, if there's things that the committee would like to talk through, we're more than happy to do so.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Up last is Jeff McCutcheon, the Ohio State College of Ag, which I'm going to say since I was the only one that voted against the current version of it in 1993 in undergraduate student government. It is the Ohio State College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, I guess. But go ahead and you may proceed when ready.

I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much for your testimony today. Are there any questions from committee members? A ranking member, Ingram.

In Ohio, there's only a few that are in school. That are associated with the school.

Right. So the community club model, but in school districts, we've got some around Dayton and Hamilton County. I know those are probably our largest clusters.