The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce submitted a revised Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) waiver to the U.S. Department of Education on August 6, 2026, replacing an earlier draft that listed 16 state-mandated interventions for persistently low-performing schools with a two-tier framework that still gives the state final approval authority over local district improvement plans.
The final waiver, reported by the Lima Ohio on August 9, 2026, divides interventions into two categories. Less intensive measures require schools to adopt evidence-based interventions in partnership with the state and local districts. Six more rigorous interventions are dependent on state approval of a local district’s improvement plan, though the waiver describes them as being determined in partnership between the state and the district.
The six rigorous interventions
- School closure.
- Conversion to a charter school.
- Reopening under a new principal or management team with authority to replace staff or restructure programs.
- Merger with a charter school operated by a DEW-approved charter management organization.
- Contracting with an organization to operate all or portions of the school.
- A sixth intervention is implied but not separately enumerated in the available reporting.
The earlier draft, posted for public comment through May 28, 2026, drew sharp criticism from most of those who commented. DEW spokeswoman Lacey Snoke said public input helped shape the final proposal.
How the waiver compares with current state law
Under current Ohio Revised Code (ORC) § 3302.12, school buildings ranked in the lowest 5 percent statewide for three consecutive years must be restructured by the local district board of education. The board chooses among options including closure, contracting, replacing the principal and all teaching staff, or reopening as a conversion community school. The decision rests with the district, not the state.
Similarly, ORC § 3302.04 lays out escalating district-level interventions for buildings failing to make adequate yearly progress, ranging from replacing personnel to reopening as a community school, again with the district making the call. The revised waiver would shift that authority by requiring state approval of any improvement plan that includes the six rigorous interventions.
Gov. Mike DeWine, speaking at the Ohio State Fair on August 5, 2026, emphasized that none of the interventions happen without a local school board decision. The Lima Ohio report notes that while many of the interventions in the final waiver resemble current law for schools that do not boost performance over four years, current law gives the decision to the district.
Precedent: House Bill 70 and Senate Bill 127
Ohio’s House Bill 70, passed in 2015, allowed state-appointed academic distress commissions to hire CEOs for chronically underperforming districts, replacing local superintendents. According to the Lima Ohio, that model did not produce better school district performance and was later replaced by a law restoring locally elected school boards’ authority to implement performance plans monitored by the state. The Ohio 8 Coalition co-chairs said the final waiver is reminiscent of House Bill 70.
Ohio Senate Bill 127 included school closure and charter takeover provisions similar to those in the draft waiver, but the Senate Education Committee removed them from the legislation in early May 2026 after opposition testimony. State Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan (D-Parma), who sent a letter to DEW Director Stephen D. Dackin in June 2026 urging removal of the intervention language, noted that when concepts are considered and then removed by the General Assembly, questions arise when those same ideas reappear through administrative action.
The broader waiver context
Ohio’s April 2026 ESEA waiver request aligns with a July 29, 2025 Dear Colleague letter from the Trump Administration and seeks flexibility across eight federal funding streams, including Title I-A, Title II-A, Title III-A, Title IV-A, and Title IV-B, citing priorities of literacy, mathematics, workforce readiness, and attendance. The waiver was submitted by Director Stephen D. Dackin.
The EdTrust-led joint comment noted that consolidating Title II, III, IV-A, and IV-B funds into a single state-level pool raises significant concerns about program integrity, transparency, and student impact, and risks shifting resources away from English learners, whose ELA proficiency rate (39 percent) is well below the state average (60 percent). The comment supported certain local funding flexibilities but urged maintaining program guardrails.
Ohio’s current school identification system
Ohio’s federal school identification system identifies Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools every three years. These include the lowest 5 percent of Title I-served schools by overall performance and any public school with a federal graduation rate at or below 67 percent. Schools identified as CSI in 2018 or 2022 that did not exit are designated as needing More Required Intervention. To exit CSI status, a school must show two consecutive years of improvement above its initial cut score and above the lowest 5 percent threshold.
A separate pilot program
Ohio Revised Code § 3302.121 established a school turnaround pilot program beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, administered by DEW for five years. The program allows the department to select up to 15 percent of CSI-designated buildings to participate using DEW-approved external service providers for needs assessment and multi-year improvement plans. The department must conduct annual evaluations. That pilot operates through district participation rather than state-imposed interventions.