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The Student Wellness Act would allow school districts to count mental health days as excused absences, with policies setting limits, definitions and referral guidelines for student support services.

A Franklin County judge ruled Tuesday that Ohio’s Education Choice program is unconstitutional. This is the first ruling in the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit, a group of dozens of public schools and the Coalition for Adequacy and Equity of School funding which challenged Ohio’s EdChoice scholarship program as unconstitutional. Judge Jaiza Page recognized the lawsuit will likely progress through appeals court, so she said although it is unconstitutional, the EdChoice program can continue until a final verdict is reached. Judge Jaiza Page determined that the state took money from public schools to fund the voucher program, unfairly creating a second system of “uncommon private schools” directly funded by the state. The state has allocated more than $1 billion to fund the EdChoice program, particularly after the state removed the income requirement for participation.