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Bill would let Ohio school boards withhold student directory information from public records
Summary
House Bill 127 would remove student directory information from the default public-records classification and explicitly allow local school boards to decline to release that information; sponsors say the change clarifies current law and preserves required military recruiter access unless parents opt out.
House Bill 127 would declassify student directory information as public records and give local school boards explicit, permissive authority to withhold such data from public-record requests, sponsors told the Ohio Senate Education Committee at a first hearing.
"Student directory information is defined in Ohio Revised Code section 3319.321 and includes a student's name, address, phone number, birth date, major field of study, participation in sports, extracurricular activities," Representative Matthews told the committee, summarizing the measure's scope. He said current law allows parents or guardians to request their student's directory information be withheld but leaves ambiguity about whether boards otherwise may withhold that information.
The bill "explicitly states that school boards may choose to not release any students' directory information," Matthews said. He added that the measure preserves the existing requirement that schools must release names and addresses to military recruiters unless a student or parent elects to withhold them. Representative Mike Odioso, a joint sponsor, said interested parties including school administrators, the Ohio School Boards Association and School Choice Ohio worked on language to ensure education service centers and the Ohio Education Computer Network retain required access and that existing contracts would not be redundantly restricted.
During committee questions, Senator Huffman asked whether parochial and other private schools that rely on district directory lists for outreach would be affected. Matthews responded that the bill is permissive: if a board chooses to permit release for recruiting or community outreach, the board policy must be neutral and uniformly applied to all requesters. "If they were going to allow it to have people, the student directory being permitted to have, say, advertising for the local, say soccer or other types of nonprofits or charities, it'd be open to then nonprofits and charities, but that would be the board policy that would have to be neutral on its face," he said.
The committee concluded the first hearing with no vote on the bill. Sponsors told the committee the bill previously passed the House unanimously and that they welcome further questions and amendments as it moves through the Senate.
