Chapter 3301-17 | Reports for Statewide Education Management Information System

(A) "Reporting entity" shall refer to city, local, exempted village, or joint vocational school districts, community schools, educational service centers, and any other educational entities required to submit data to the department of education pursuant to the requirements of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code.

(B) "Data reporting issue" shall refer to incomplete or inaccurate data; reported data that does not conform to the data requirements and descriptions published by the department; data not reported or data not reported in a timely manner; and/or data not reported in good faith.

(C) "Department" shall mean department of education.

(D) "State funds" shall mean school foundation program funding or other sources of state funding provided by the department in the fiscal year in which a withholding is applied.

(A) Any reporting entity required by the department to submit a corrective action plan shall have thirty days to provide a corrective action plan to the department, unless the magnitude of the data reporting issue requires a shorter response time.

(B) The department may provide assistance to a reporting entity in the development of a corrective action plan; however, any corrective action plan required to be submitted to the department shall be subject to approval by the department.

(C) A corrective action plan may include, but not be limited to, the following components:

(1) An explanation of how and why the identified data reporting issues occurred;

(2) The steps the reporting entity shall take, directly related to the identified data reporting issues, to either eliminate all identified data reporting issues or stop the data reporting issues from occurring again;

(3) A statement of how the district will support, financially or otherwise, the steps outlined to address the identified data reporting issues; and

(4) Approval by the superintendent or chief administrator, agreeing to implement the steps outlined in the corrective action plan.

(A) The factors the department shall consider when applying a financial penalty may include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) Type of data reporting issue;

(2) Magnitude of the data reporting issue;

(3) Whether a good faith effort was made by the reporting entity as determined by the department. The burden of proof shall be on the reporting entity to demonstrate that it made a good faith effort to report data as required under section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code;

(4) Withholdings applied in similar situations with other reporting entities;

(5) Data reporting history of the reporting entity; and

(6) The reporting entity's response to previous withholdings and other actions taken by the department regarding the reporting entity's data reporting practices.

(B) If any action taken under division (L)(2) of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code resolves a reporting entity's outstanding data reporting issues to the department's satisfaction, the department shall not take any further action described by that division, except that the department may subject a reporting entity to sanctions if the department determines that a data reporting issue has reoccurred or the reporting entity has otherwise violated the reporting requirements of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code.

(C) Any time a reporting entity becomes subject to a higher degree of sanctioning as provided for in division (L)(2) of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code, the department shall notify the reporting entity and its board of education or sponsor in writing of such an escalation at least thirty days before the department withholds any additional funding as a result of the higher degree of sanction along with the basis for such withholding.

(D) In cases where a revised report card is issued under division (L)(2)(d)(viii) of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code, the department shall also identify the impact of issuing a revised report card and include a statement to that effect with the notification.

Any time the department takes an action against a reporting entity under division (L)(2) of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code, the department shall make a report of the circumstances that prompted the action and maintain a copy in its files. Notwithstanding the notification provided for in paragraph (C) of rule 3301-17-06 of the Administrative Code, the department shall send a copy of the report to the superintendent or chief administrator of the reporting entity within thirty days of issuance of the report and before the department withholds any funding.