The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 57 on Sept. 30, 2025, requiring school districts that choose to keep overdose-reversal medication on campus to adopt board policies for maintenance and use and directing the Department of Education and Workforce to create a model policy in consultation with the Department of Health.

Supporters said the bill is primarily a student-safety measure and also restores local control for some districts' long-standing religious release practices. Senator Brenner said the bill "would help ensure that school districts that choose to maintain overdose reversal drugs do so in a safe and effective manner" and described the legislation as a "life saving measure." Brenner noted the Department of Education and Workforce would prepare a model policy for districts to use.

The bill also includes an amendment addressing religious release time. The amendment allows local boards of education to adopt policies that differ from the 2-period or 2-unit caps on release time imposed in the recently enacted budget; sponsors said it does not require districts to exceed those caps but permits districts that historically operated above them to continue doing so at local discretion.

Nut graf: The measure combines a public-health requirement — standardizing how schools keep and use naloxone and similar drugs — with a change to the state2s rules on religious instruction release time. Supporters argued the language restores local control for districts that had been operating under different practices; opponents argued the amendment was added late and risked entangling public schools with religious instruction.

During floor debate, Senator Ingram said she was "conflicted," urging more attention to local policies and warning that local control can be undermined by outside influences in district decision-making. Senator Smith urged a no vote, criticizing the process used to add the religious-release amendment and arguing that taxpayer-funded institutions must protect separation of church and state. Smith said the original bill, as passed by the House, focused on overdose reversal and had bipartisan support before the amendment was attached.

Senator Brenner responded that the religious-release decision was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in Zorach v. Clauson and said the amendment merely restored local flexibility requested by districts. Brenner also cited state overdose data during debate: he said the Ohio Department of Health reported overdose deaths among children and teens aged 10–19 rose 166% from 2018 to 2022 and that at least 61 Ohio youth died of unintentional overdoses in 2022.

The Senate voted to pass the bill by a 28-4 margin. The motion and final passage were recorded on the Senate journal; the clerk announced the bill "is passed and entitled." The bill's House sponsors were listed in the record as Representatives Jerrells and Williams.

Ending: The Senate also agreed to the bill title on the floor. The measure will be processed consistent with legislative procedures and the Senate record for third-reading passage; the transcript does not state further steps or an enactment date.