A plan that could relieve Ohio’s public universities from some costly mandates has yet to make its way to the state legislature.
In August, Ohio’s Board of Regents, the state’s higher-education body, drafted a plan to create enterprise universities, which operate more independently from the state and are excused from certain mandates that could cost the university money.
“Ohio’s universities are a driver of economic development in the state,” said Jim Petro, chancellor of the Board of Regents, in a news release. “By allowing our universities to be free from mandates. … Ohioans gain increased efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness that will help drive our 21st-century economy.”
The state legislature must pass an enterprise-university bill before the plan can be put into action, but no such bill has been introduced in the legislature yet, said Kim Norris, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Board of Regents.
“It was requested by the legislature to create such a plan, but there has been no further movement,” Norris said.
Although the legislature is not voting on a bill yet, the plan states that the General Assembly, Ohio’s legislative body, plans to take action by July 1.
The plan suggests creating a tiered system for mandate relief. It proposes eliminating some mandates altogether, even for universities that do not agree to become enterprise, or “charter,” universities.
Universities that do agree to become charters will receive additional mandate relief but, in turn, will dedicate some state funding to a proposed Preeminent Scholars Award Foundation. The state’s 3.5 percent cap on tuition increases would stay in place even for universities that become enterprise universities, according to the plan.
The scholarship foundation would aim to keep Ohio’s top high-school students in the state for education after graduation.
“There is a strong suggestion that we need to keep more of our scholars here in Ohio,” Norris said. “High-school students at the top of their class would receive some type of merit-based scholarship.”
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis said he is in favor of mandate relief but is hesitant to invest a portion of the university’s state funding in the state’s scholars program.
“We support mandate relief, but at what cost?” McDavis said. “We’ve already cut our budget in the past few years, and the (scholarship) would come out of our State Share of Instruction (funding).”
OU already invests money in both merit-based and need-based scholarships, McDavis said.
“We have already focused much of our fundraising efforts on raising money for scholarships, so we’re on the same page there,” he said.
Phase 1 of the plan would completely end several mandates, including some construction statutes, enrollment limits and reports that universities are required to prepare and submit to the state.
For example, some state mandates require universities to choose only certain contractors that are unionized and could charge more money.
Phase 2 allows universities to “enter into an agreement with the Board of Regents to become enterprise universities,” according to the plan.
Some real-estate and insurance restrictions would be eliminated for universities that decide to become enterprise universities and put some state funding aside for the state’s proposed scholarship program. Under the plan, which could change once introduced to the legislature, enterprise universities could charge different amounts of tuition for different academic programs.
“Once we see the final bill, then we’ll be in a much better position to take a position,” McDavis said.
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