State House considers bill to create career exploration programs for Ohio students

Legislation pending before the House Education Committee would create new career-exploration requirements for students in grades six through 12.

Senate Bill 328 would require the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to develop career resources for students. The legislation would require schools to implement career exploration programs beginning in the 2027-28 school year.

Lawmakers held a hearing on this measure as the state legislature returns for a lame-duck session following last week’s election.

“Education and workforce systems have operated on parallel tracks,” Greg R. Lawson, a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, said in prepared testimony. “With insufficient communication between educators and employers, Ohio students often must make life-shaping decisions with limited information about the labor market, wage outcomes, and the evolving skill sets needed by industry.

“Employers, meanwhile, struggle to find talent,” Lawson added. “Senate Bill 328 begins to address this disconnect by aligning education, training, and labor market data. It builds a coordinated framework to help students understand not only what they can study, but where that study can lead them.”

Schools would provide career pathway resources for students in grades six through 12 and offer at least 60 hours of career exploration by eighth grade. Students in grades six through eight would be required to complete career and academic plans.

The bill would also eliminate current student success plan requirements and instead require schools to develop graduation and career plans for students who are at risk of not qualifying for a high school diploma.

“By emphasizing earlier, directed career exploration, Senate Bill 328 helps connect student interests and aptitudes to tangible career paths in middle and high school,” Lawson said. “That connection makes education more meaningful.”

Multiple proponents of the bill also testified, including Antonio Diaz Guy, village manager of East Palestine, and Kevin Krier, the career pathway navigator coach at Foxfire High School. Both Diaz Guy and Krier said that the GRIT Project, a career coaching initiative that works with students in rural Ohio and West Virginia, has implemented similar programs in their schools.

“In my prior work with the GRIT Project, I saw how coaching and career exploration could help people recognize opportunities they had never considered,” Diaz Guy said in prepared testimony. “I also saw the value to employers when someone came to them with a clearer understanding of the work and a genuine interest in doing it.”

“That experience is part of why I believe schools and local employers should have more opportunities to work together while students are still exploring their options.”

SB 328 would require career and academic plans that include a list of the student’s strengths and interests, an outline of career exploration activities, an action plan based on the student’s career, academic, and life goals, and a plan for high school graduation.

Schools would consult the local career technical planning district and business advisory council about students’ career plans.

“Through our partnership with the GRIT Project and Future Plans Ohio, we have implemented many of the same strategies outlined in Senate Bill 328, and the results have been transformative,” Krier said. “Over the past two years, 241 Foxfire students have completed career assessments, and 218 students have participated in individualized career coaching sessions.”

“These conversations help students identify careers that align with their interests, strengths, and aptitudes. More importantly, they help students discover purpose and help them begin to envision a future beyond high school.”

Funding for the education programs outlined in the legislation would come from existing career awareness and exploration funds. The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education awarded Ohio a $9 million Career Pathways Exploration Grant in September to expand career exploration for K-12 students.

The Ohio Senate passed SB 328 in May after Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, introduced it in 2025.