Executive State Budget Released
On Monday, Gov. Mike DeWine released his executive proposal for the next biennial state budget, allocating resources for Fiscal Years 2022-2023.
Unsurprisingly, the Governor did not show a willingness to seek new tax revenue or tap the state’s “Rainy Day Fund,” which many groups, including ours, have suggested is necessary to properly fund important public services.
Making headlines in the immediate hours following the budget’s unveiling was DeWine’s plan to set aside $1 billion for one-time “COVID relief” spending that will be used to boost bars and restaurants, local communities, and help workers gain new job skills.
Part of that billion includes $50 million for a national marketing campaign to promote Ohio as a “progressive state,” a great place to live, work, and attend school.
Critics were quick to jump on this piece of the pie, saying that the state should invest such funds in actually making Ohio better, which in turn would attract people to the state. There is not much policy-wise that has occurred in Ohio in many years that could be described as “progressive.”
Of the $74.5 billion in overall proposed General Revenue Fund (GRF) spending, about $5.5 billion is slated for higher education expenditures. When asked by a reporter about college and university funding during his budget press conference, DeWine said, “We think we’re treating them well.”
SSI
The vast majority of the higher education allocation ($4.13 billion) would be spent on State Share of Instruction (SSI) — the state’s primary funding stream to public colleges and universities. This represents about a 1.9% increase in funding over the biennium, which fails to keep pace with inflation.
OCOG
The Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG) — the state’s fund that assists financially disadvantaged students — would get a 6.5% increase over the two-year period under DeWine’s plan, taking total funding to more than $211 million. This would raise the per-student award by $500/year.
OCOG is available to students who attend four-year universities, public or private, as well as other non-profit institutions. Technically, community college and regional campus students are not excluded from OCOG, but typically don’t receive these grants. Pell Grants plus Expected Family Contributions (EFC) have exceeded the average tuition/fees at these institutions, thus disqualifying students from OCOG eligibility.
Choose Ohio First
The “Choose Ohio First Scholarship,” which aims to encourage students to choose STEMM education at Ohio institutions, would get a 36.5% increase to $53 million over the two fiscal years. It appears that other STEMM-related line items would be zeroed out to funnel money into this scholarship pool.
Miscellany
Many other higher education line items — such as ones for specific university programs — would be cut for FY 2022 but the funding subsequently restored in FY 2023.
Takeaways
With Gov. DeWine restoring $100 million in cuts to higher education last week, as well as the small increases he has proposed for SSI, higher education is in a slightly better position than it might be otherwise. We have seen previous state budgets with significant cuts to higher education or flat funding. In other words, it could be worse.
Nevertheless, SSI funding would remain below pre-recession levels. This is simply unsustainable if the state wants our colleges and universities to operate at a high level of quality with affordable tuition for students.
We applaud the increased money to OCOG, but the total proposed funding for FY 2023 would still be far below where funding was for the grant 15 years ago. In addition, we believe legislators need to reexamine eligibility for community college and regional campus students, as those institutions are most often the access points for lower-income students.
Next Steps
This is just the beginning of a five-month budget process.
The Ohio House of Representatives will follow-up DeWine’s budget proposal by introducing formal legislation. The various components of the bill will be considered by House Finance Subcommittees, then the House Finance Committee will pass the bill and put it to a vote of the full House.
The Senate will then go through the same process, and a Conference Committee will convene to work out differences between the House and Senate versions before sending the budget bill to Gov. DeWine to sign by June 30.
As usual, we will be actively participating in the process, talking to legislators and testifying to committees. We will update you throughout the proceedings, and let you know if there are ways that you can support our efforts. Of course, we always urge you to get to know your local state lawmakers and educate them on higher education issues.
Run, Rudy, Run!
We are pleased to share that our own Rudy Fichtenbaum, Past President of National AAUP, long-time OCAAUP Board Member, and emeritus professor of economics at Wright State University, is running for one of the retiree positions on the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board.
We also are supporting the candidacy of Elizabeth Jones, a retired teacher and member of the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT). Rudy and Elizabeth are both well-versed on pension issues and would be good fiduciaries of the pension system. They believe that the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for retirees should be restored, and that active educators deserve a fair and sound pension upon their retirement.
In order to get Rudy and Elizabeth on the STRS ballot this spring, we need to collect 500 signatures from STRS retirees who live in Ohio. Two hundred of those signatures have to come in the form of 20 signatures from 10 counties. STRS is not relaxing their rules on signature collection. They will not accept electronically signed or scanned petitions. We need original, hard copy signatures.
As such, we are asking retired professors and K-12 teachers who belong to STRS and live in Ohio to PRINT, FILL OUT/SIGN, and MAIL both Rudy’s petition and Elizabeth’s petition to the OCAAUP office:
Ohio Conference AAUP
222 East Town Street, 2W
Columbus, OH 43215
If you have questions, email sara@ocaaup.org.
Your Signature Needed!
We are working with the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) to collect signatures from active public institution faculty who pay into the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) pension in order to get OFT member Ben Pfeiffer on the STRS ballot this spring.
Ben is a Chemistry Teacher in Oregon City Schools in Northwest Ohio, as well as a volunteer firefighter for Jerusalem Township.
He is President of Oregon City Schools Federation of Teachers, and has been involved with OFT’s Retirement Committee since 2008. He keenly understands retirement and pension issues, and has pledged to work on behalf of active and retired members, if elected to the STRS Board.
The Ohio Conference AAUP Board has endorsed Ben’s candidacy, because he is knowledgeable about STRS issues and will be a good fiduciary of the system. He believes that retirees and active educators deserve the pensions they were promised.
In order to get Ben on the ballot, we need 500 signatures from active educators who pay into STRS and reside in Ohio. If you opted for the Alternative Retirement Plan (ARP) or do not live in Ohio, you are ineligible to sign.
Of the 500 signatures, 200 need to come in the form of 20 signatures from 10 counties. STRS is not relaxing the rules on signature collection. As such, we must ask people to print the petition, fill it out/sign it with a pen, and mail it back to us. No electronic or scanned petitions will be accepted by STRS.
Please PRINT, SIGN, and MAIL Ben’s petition back to the Ohio Conference AAUP office. Here is the address:
Ohio Conference AAUP
222 East Town Street, 2W
Columbus, OH 43215
If you have questions, contact sara@ocaaup.org. Thanks in advance for your help with this effort!
DeWine restores some state funding, but what will we see in the next state budget?
Higher Ed Gets Back $100 million
Last week, Gov. DeWine announced the restoration of $100 million in cuts that he had made to higher education in the last calendar year. Between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021, the cuts amounted to a $164 million reduction in State Share of Instruction (SSI).
DeWine credited better-than-expected tax receipts for the reinstatement of this funding, which is desperately needed as many of Ohio’s public colleges and universities are still reeling from revenue losses on account of COVID and other issues.
Between this funding and federal relief, institutions are in a much stronger position to weather the short-term financial storm that the pandemic has caused. Administrations should reconsider program and faculty reductions that already have occurred or are currently on the table.
State Budget Preview
At the beginning of February, Gov. DeWine and his team at the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) will release his executive proposal for the next biennial state budget, which will allocate resources for Fiscal Years 2022-2023.
Last week, the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) submitted two budget scenarios to OBM for consideration. The first scenario represented ODHE taking a significant cut, which would result in about a 10% reduction to SSI. The second scenario involves a funding increase of almost 3%.
With tax receipts continuing to be stronger than anticipated, we are hopeful that the governor chooses the latter scenario as part of his executive budget, and we will strongly advocate to the legislature that far more resources are needed beyond that if we are going to maintain excellence at our public colleges and universities.
Beyond funding, we again will talk to legislators about issues with the College Credit Plus (CCP) program, as well as management of our institutions, including spending priorities by administrations.
President Kich Urges Gov. DeWine to Restore, Increase Higher Ed Funding in Next State Budget
On December 11, OCAAUP President Martin Kich sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine regarding the next biennial state budget.
As you can see in the letter, we are urging the Governor (and will be urging the next General Assembly, too) to restore SSI funding levels to original allocations in the current budget, as well as increases to SSI beyond that.
Higher education took more than its fair share of cuts this year when DeWine had to rebalance the budget in the wake of reduced tax revenue due to fallout from the pandemic.
We need the governor and legislators to seriously consider new revenue options so that Ohio has the resources it needs to invest in public services at all levels, including public higher education.
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