(A) As used in this section:

(1) "Resident district" has the same meaning as in section 3326.31 of the Revised Code.

(2) "STEM school sponsoring district" means a municipal, city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school district that governs and controls a STEM school pursuant to this section.

(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary:

(1) If a proposal for a STEM school submitted under section 3326.03 of the Revised Code proposes that the governing body of the school be the board of education of a municipal, city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school district that is one of the partners submitting the proposal, and the STEM committee approves that proposal, that school district board shall govern and control the STEM school as one of the schools of its district.

(2) The STEM school sponsoring district shall maintain a separate accounting for the STEM school as a separate and distinct operational unit within the district's finances. The auditor of state, in the course of an annual or biennial audit of the school district serving as the STEM school sponsoring district, shall audit that school district for compliance with the financing requirements of this section.

(3) With respect to students enrolled in a STEM school whose resident district is the STEM school sponsoring district:

(a) The department of education shall make no deductions under section 3326.33 of the Revised Code from the STEM school sponsoring district's state payments.

(b) The STEM school sponsoring district shall ensure that it allocates to the STEM school funds equal to or exceeding the amount that would be calculated pursuant to division (B) of section 3313.981 of the Revised Code for the students attending the school whose resident district is the STEM school sponsoring district.

(c) The STEM school sponsoring district is responsible for providing children with disabilities with a free appropriate public education under Chapter 3323. of the Revised Code.

(d) The STEM school sponsoring district shall provide student transportation in accordance with laws and policies generally applicable to the district.

(4) With respect to students enrolled in the STEM school whose resident district is another school district, the department shall make no payments or deductions under sections 3326.31 to 3326.49 of the Revised Code. Instead, the students shall be considered as open enrollment students and the department shall make payments and deductions in accordance with section 3313.981 of the Revised Code. The STEM school sponsoring district shall allocate the payments to the STEM school. The STEM school sponsoring district may enter into financial agreements with the students' resident districts, which agreements may provide financial support in addition to the funds received from the open enrollment calculation. The STEM school sponsoring district shall allocate all such additional funds to the STEM school.

(5) Where the department is required to make, deny, reduce, or adjust payments to a STEM school sponsoring district pursuant to this section, it shall do so in such a manner that the STEM school sponsoring district may allocate that action to the STEM school.

(6) A STEM school sponsoring district and its board may assign its district employees to the STEM school, in which case section 3326.18 of the Revised Code shall not apply. The district and board may apply any other resources of the district to the STEM school in the same manner that it applies district resources to other district schools.

(7) Provisions of this chapter requiring a STEM school and its governing body to comply with specified laws as if it were a school district and in the same manner as a board of education shall instead require such compliance by the STEM school sponsoring district and its board of education, respectively, with respect to the STEM school. Where a STEM school or its governing body is required to perform a specific duty or permitted to take a specific action under this chapter, that duty is required to be performed or that action is permitted to be taken by the STEM school sponsoring district or its board of education, respectively, with respect to the STEM school.

(8) No provision of this chapter limits the authority, as provided otherwise by law, of a school district and its board of education to levy taxes and issue bonds secured by tax revenues.

(9) The treasurer of the STEM school sponsoring district or, if the STEM school sponsoring district is a municipal school district, the chief financial officer of the district, shall have all of the respective rights, authority, exemptions, and duties otherwise conferred upon the treasurer or chief financial officer by the Revised Code.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.

Effective Date: 2008 HB562 06-24-2008