As used in this section, “online learning” has the same meaning as in section 3301.079 of the Revised Code.

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(A) Any local, city, exempted village, or joint vocational school district, with approval of the department of education and workforce, may operate a school using an online learning model. If a school is operated using an online learning model or is to cease operating using an online learning model, the superintendent of the district shall notify the department of that fact not later than the first day of July of the school year for which the change is effective. If any school district school is currently operated using an online learning model on September 30, 2021, the superintendent of the district shall notify the department within sixty days after September 30, 2021, of that fact and request that the school be classified as an online learning school.

(1) Districts shall assign all students engaged in online learning to a single school which the department shall designate as a district online school.

(2) Districts shall provide all students engaged in online learning a computer, at no cost, for instructional use. Districts shall provide a filtering device or install filtering software that protects against internet access to materials that are obscene or harmful to juveniles on each computer provided to students for instructional use.

(3) Districts shall provide all students engaged in online learning access to the internet, at no cost, for instructional use.

(4) Districts that operate an online learning school shall provide a comprehensive orientation for students and their parents or guardians prior to enrollment or within thirty days for students enrolled as of September 30, 2021.

(5) Online learning schools operated by a district shall implement a learning management system that tracks the time students participate in online learning activities. All student learning activities completed while off-line shall be documented with all participation records checked and approved by the teacher of record.

(B) The department shall revise any operating standards for school districts adopted under section 3301.07 of the Revised Code to include standards for the operation of online learning under this section. The online learning operation standards shall provide for all of the following:

(1) Student-to-teacher ratios whereby no school or classroom is required to have more than one teacher for every one hundred twenty-five students in online learning classrooms;

(2) The ability of all students, at any grade level, to earn credits or advance grade levels upon demonstrating mastery of knowledge or skills through competency-based learning models. Credits or grade level advancement shall not be based on a minimum number of days or hours in a classroom.

(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 3313.48 of the Revised Code, a requirement that schools operating using an online learning model have an annual instructional calendar of not less than nine hundred ten hours.

(a) For funding purposes, the department shall reduce the full-time equivalence proportionally for any student in an online learning school who participates in less than nine hundred ten hours per school year. The department shall reduce state funding for students assigned to an online learning school operated by a district commensurate with such adjustments to enrollment.

(b) The department shall develop a review process and make all adjustments of state funding to districts to reflect any participation of students in online learning schools for less than the equivalent of a full school year.

(4) Adequate provisions for: the licensing of teachers, administrators, and other professional personnel and their assignment according to training and qualifications; efficient and effective instructional materials and equipment, including library facilities; the proper organization, administration, and supervision of each school, including regulations for preparing all necessary records and reports and the preparation of a statement of policies and objectives for each school; buildings, grounds, and health and sanitary facilities and services; admission of pupils, and such requirements for their promotion from grade to grade as will ensure that they are capable and prepared for the level of study to which they are certified; requirements for graduation; and such other factors as the board finds necessary.

(C) This section does not affect any provisions for the operation of and payments to an internet- or computer-based community school prescribed in Chapter 3314 of the Revised Code.