Section 3316.18. Severability

(A) Subject to division (B) of this section, if any section or provision of this chapter, including any condition or prerequisite to any action or determination thereunder, or if any act or action, or part thereof, made or taken under this chapter, or any application thereof, is for any reason held to be illegal or invalid, this illegality or invalidity shall not affect the remainder thereof or any other section or provision of this chapter, including any condition or prerequisite to any action or determination thereunder, or any agreement, act or action, or part thereof, made, entered into, or taken under this chapter, which shall be construed and enforced and applied as if such illegal or invalid portion were not contained therein, nor shall such illegality or invalidity or any application thereof affect any legal and valid application thereof, and each such section, provision, agreement, act, or action, or part thereof, shall be considered to be effective, operative, made, and entered into or taken in the manner and to the full extent permitted by law.

(B) Division (A) of this section and section 1.50 of the Revised Code are subject to the following exceptions:

(1) It is the intention of the general assembly that any act of the school district board authorized to be taken under this chapter only with the consent or approval of the school district financial planning and supervision commission would not have been authorized in the absence of and is inseparable from such provision for consent or approval so that if a provision for consent or approval by the commission under this chapter is for any reason held to be illegal or invalid, the authorization of the action that is subject to such consent or approval shall likewise be deemed illegal or invalid and not to exist under this chapter.

(2) To the extent that any act of the school district which is authorized by law, other than this chapter, is conditioned by this chapter upon, or is subjected to a prerequisite by this chapter as to, the preparation, submission, or approval of, or consistency with, a financial recovery plan, or as to consent to or approval by the commission of any such act of the school district, if for any reason such condition or prerequisite is held to be illegal or invalid, such act by the school district shall be deemed to be and is hereby restricted, so that it may not be taken or done by the school district until and unless the auditor of state, upon request of the board of education of the school district, determines in writing that none of the fiscal emergency conditions determined to exist pursuant to division (B) of section 3316.03 of the Revised Code continues to exist.

(3) Divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section apply only to acts of the school district occurring after a court has determined such illegality or invalidity and any act of the school district prior thereto, and its binding effect prior or subsequent to this determination, is not affected by the determination.

(C) The provisions of this chapter granting authority to the commission are intended to provide a thorough and efficient system of education throughout the state and are further intended to provide better security for holders of debt obligations of the school district. These provisions shall be liberally construed to achieve the state public policy and the purposes stated and provided for by this chapter.

(D) Any act of the commission under this chapter relating to debt obligations issued or incurred by a school district shall be presumed to be valid and for all purposes shall be conclusively valid unless in an appropriate court action in which the commission is duly made a party it is shown by clear and convincing evidence that no basis existed upon which the act could have been sustained under the law and that the commission's act was grossly arbitrary; provided that no such action may affect the reliability and conclusiveness of certifications and approvals by the commission as provided in section 3316.14 of the Revised Code.

(E) Any action or proceeding bringing into question the interpretation, legality, or validity of any provision of this chapter, the existence or authority, or the legality or validity of any act, of the commission, or of any action taken under this chapter, is a matter of great public interest to the state and shall be advanced on the docket of the court and expedited to final determination.

Effective Date: 06-20-1996