(A) Except as provided under division (B) of this section, employees of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics school may organize and collectively bargain pursuant to Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code. Notwithstanding division (D)(1) of section 4117.06 of the Revised Code, a unit containing teaching and nonteaching employees employed under this section shall be considered an appropriate unit.

(B) If a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics school is created by converting all or part of an existing school operated by a school district or an existing conversion community school established under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code, at the time of conversion, the employees assigned to the STEM school shall remain part of any collective bargaining unit in which they were included immediately prior to the conversion and shall remain subject to any collective bargaining agreement for that unit in effect on the first day of July of the year in which the STEM school initially begins operation and shall be subject to any subsequent collective bargaining agreement for that unit, unless a petition is certified as sufficient under division (E) of this section with regard to those employees. Any new employees assigned to the STEM school also shall be included in the unit to which they would have been assigned had the conversion not taken place and shall be subject to the collective bargaining agreement for that unit unless a petition is certified as sufficient under division (E) of this section with regard to those employees. Notwithstanding division (B) of section 4117.01 of the Revised Code, the board of education of the school district that operated or sponsored the STEM school prior to conversion and not the STEM school shall be regarded, for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code, as the "public employer" of the employees assigned to a conversion STEM school subject to a collective bargaining agreement pursuant to this division unless a petition is certified under division (E) of this section with regard to those employees. Only on and after the effective date of a petition certified as sufficient under division (E) of this section shall division (A) of this section apply to those employees and only on and after the effective date of that petition shall Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code apply to the school with regard to those employees.

(C) Notwithstanding sections 4117.03 to 4117.18 of the Revised Code and Section 4 of Amended Substitute Senate Bill No. 133 of the 115th general assembly, the employees assigned to a conversion STEM school who are subject to a collective bargaining agreement pursuant to division (B) of this section shall cease to be subject to that agreement and all subsequent agreements pursuant to that division and shall cease to be part of the collective bargaining unit that is subject to that and all subsequent agreements, if a majority of the employees assigned to the STEM school who are subject to that collective bargaining agreement sign and submit to the state employment relations board a petition requesting all of the following:

(1) That all the employees assigned to the STEM school who are subject to that agreement be removed from the bargaining unit that is subject to that agreement and be designated by the state employment relations board as a new and separate bargaining unit for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code;

(2) That the employee organization certified as the exclusive representative of the employees of the bargaining unit from which the employees are to be removed be certified as the exclusive representative of the new and separate bargaining unit for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code;

(3) That the STEM school be regarded as the "public employer" of those employees for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code.

(D) Notwithstanding sections 4117.03 to 4117.18 of the Revised Code and Section 4 of Amended Substitute Senate Bill No. 133 of the 115th general assembly, the employees assigned to a conversion STEM school who are subject to a collective bargaining agreement pursuant to division (B) of this section shall cease to be subject to that agreement and all subsequent agreements pursuant to that division, shall cease to be part of the collective bargaining unit that is subject to that and all subsequent agreements, and shall cease to be represented by any exclusive representative of that collective bargaining unit, if a majority of the employees assigned to the STEM school who are subject to that collective bargaining agreement sign and submit to the state employment relations board a petition requesting all of the following:

(1) That all the employees assigned to the STEM school who are subject to that agreement be removed from the bargaining unit that is subject to that agreement;

(2) That any employee organization certified as the exclusive representative of the employees of that bargaining unit be decertified as the exclusive representative of the employees assigned to the STEM school who are subject to that agreement;

(3) That the STEM school be regarded as the "public employer" of those employees for purposes of Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code.

(E) Upon receipt of a petition under division (C) or (D) of this section, the state employment relations board shall check the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition. If the signatures are found sufficient, the board shall certify the sufficiency of the petition and so notify the parties involved, including the board of education of the school district that operated or sponsored the STEM school prior to conversion, the STEM school, and any exclusive representative of the bargaining unit. The changes requested in a certified petition shall take effect on the first day of the month immediately following the date on which the sufficiency of the petition is certified under this division.

Effective Date: 2007 HB119 06-30-2007.

Note: The amendment to this section by 129th General AssemblyFile No.10, SB 5, §1 was rejected by voters in the November, 2011 election.