On March 15, Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled his executive budget for the biennium, Fiscal Years 2020-21, but the formal budget bill — House Bill 166 — was just introduced on March 25.

In terms of funding, higher education will get a couple of boosts. State Share of Instruction (SSI) — the main funding stream to public colleges and universities — will receive a 1.1% increase in FY 2020 and an additional 1% in FY 2021, which amounts to roughly $42 million over the two-year period.

In addition, the need-based Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG) will get 21.2% increases each fiscal year, amounting to a $47 million boost over the biennium. This is a much-needed infusion of money to this important program, which helps lower-income students attend public and private institutions in the state. There also is discussion about using OCOG funds to help community college students purchase textbooks. Currently, community college students are ineligible for OCOG.

Of course, we know that these additional funds are insufficient in truly moving toward a more affordable and accessible system of higher education that supports quality instruction and doesn’t leave our students saddled with debt.

To make up for minimal funding increases, DeWine will allow institutions to increase tuition by 6%, if they offer a “tuition guarantee.” A tuition guarantee lets them raise tuition initially, but requires them to keep it consistent for the four years of a student’s college career. However, language in the budget will allow institutions to appeal to the chancellor to increase tuition beyond 6%, if they can demonstrate a financial need. Unless offering a tuition guarantee, institutions will be restricted from increasing instructional and other fees.

Moreover, the governor and chancellor are pushing for graduates’ job placements to be incorporated into the SSI formula. There will be a study conducted by the chancellor and appointees from the Inter-University Council and Ohio Association of Community Colleges. The “Employment Metrics Consultation,” as they’re calling the committee, will be charged with completing a study by June 30, 2020, with expectations of implementing this new piece to the SSI formula for Fiscal Year 2022 (in the next budget).

Part of the governor’s plans to increase the number of certificate and degree holders is to push “micro-degrees.” The state would fund these micro-degrees for at least 10,000 Ohioans a year at a cost of $15 million each year. The administration has described micro-degrees as low-cost, industry credentials that typically take less than a year to finish.

We will continue to monitor the state budget bill and will offer testimony to the Higher Education Subcommittees when those opportunities arise. We will provide more details and analysis as the process unfolds.

Deal Reached at Wright State

Late Sunday evening, our Wright State University chapter announced that after a 20-day strike — the second longest at an institution of higher education in U.S. history — they had reached a tentative agreement with the administration and would return to work on Monday morning.

This was no small feat, as they faced a recalcitrant administration and board of trustees who seemed intent on busting the union. The strike followed two years of negotiations and a board-imposed contract that, among other things, eliminated workload agreements and any meaningful bargaining over healthcare.

We cannot thank enough our steadfast Wright State members, supportive Wright State students, and allied AAUP members and union brethren across the state for their solidarity. It is because of our collective strength that this difficult endeavor has been brought to a resolution.

This situation highlights big problems that we continue to face in Ohio higher education: boards and administrations that recklessly spend money on pet projects rather than focus resources on instruction; institutions — particularly open-access institutions — that struggle due to lack of state funding; and a need for more trustees with educational, nonprofit, and/or labor backgrounds who prioritize the educational mission and can negotiate in good faith with campus unions.

Congratulations, Wright State faculty and Wright State University! We hope this is the start of better days.

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House Higher Ed Committee Assignments

The Ohio House of Representatives announced committee assignments late last week. The all-important Finance Committee holds special weight, as it will oversee the state budget process, which will begin soon.

Of special importance to us is the Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education, which will hear all higher ed-related testimony and make recommendations to the full Finance Committee. Because there is no link to the subcommittee yet, here is the list of committee members:

Rick Carfagna (R-Genoa Twp), ChairJay Edwards (R-Nelsonville)Rick Perales (R-Beavercreek)Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland), Ranking Democratic MemberAdam Miller (D-Columbus)
In addition, the Higher Education Standing Committee, which was created for the first time during the last General Assembly will continue its existence.

Senate committee assignments should be available in the near future. As always, we will update our members on the budget process and other higher education bills of relevance to us. Stay tuned.

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Announcement of Candidates for 2019 Elections

We are pleased to announce the following candidates for the 2019 OCAAUP elections:

-Vice President: Marty Kich (Wright State University)-Treasurer: Cathy Wagner (Miami University)-At-Large Member from a public institution with less than 100 members or a private institution: Mitchell Eismont (Central State University)

Thank you to our three candidates for their willingness to serve the Ohio Conference.

Electronic ballots will be sent to all members in March.

HB 66 Passes, Signed by Kasich

During the final days of the Ohio General Assembly’s “lame duck” legislative session, the Senate passed an amended version of House Bill 66, the House concurred on the changes, and Gov. Kasich signed the bill into law.
Initially, HB 66 was legislation that would have required a minimum teaching load for all tenured faculty at Ohio’s public universities. After significant push back, the bill was modified heavily to instead create the “Undergraduate Mission Study Committee,” as the original bill purportedly was aimed at ensuring that undergraduates were learning from tenured professors.

Because of the Ohio Conference AAUP’s efforts, the bill includes language that requires the committee to “Review…the faculty composition at each institution based on employment status, including tenured faculty, full-time tenure track faculty, full-time nontenure track faculty, and part-time faculty.” We believe it is important for legislators to understand the attrition that has occurred with tenure-track positions, and that we need more tenured faculty (and more full-time faculty in general) to teach undergraduates, rather than imposing a cumbersome minimum teaching load for all university tenured professors.

The committee will be comprised of the Ohio Department of Higher Education chancellor, the president of the Inter-University Council, a faculty member appointed by the House Speaker, a faculty member appointed by the Senate President, the chair of the Ohio Faculty Council, two chief academic officers, two students, and six legislators (three each from the House and Senate).

While we still are of the opinion that this committee is an unwise use of time and resources by our state government, it will be an opportunity to highlight the excellent work of Ohio faculty — tenured and not — and hopefully shed light on the real problems facing our institutions of higher education. We intend to follow the work of the committee and communicate our views to the faculty and legislative representatives.

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Innovation Ohio Releases Higher Ed Report

Innovation Ohio (IO), a policy think tank based in Columbus, has issued a new report by fellow Stephen Dyer, entitled “The Heart of it All: How Ohio’s Lagging Investment in Post-Secondary Education Must Be Reversed For Its People to Prosper in Today’s Economy.”

A few key findings from the report:

1) Ohio’s investment in higher education has dropped by 25% over the last three decades. Need-based aid has also been cut. Both of these factors disproportionately impact college access for poor students in both urban and rural districts.

2) Fewer and fewer Ohioans today are earning more than their parents did a generation ago. While more and more jobs require a post-secondary credential, Ohioans continue to lag behind the rest of the country in obtaining them.

3) Socioeconomic status impacts not just enrollment, but also completion.Students from poor school districts are twice as likely to fail to complete their programs. A similar gap exists between suburban and rural districts.

Like IO, we believe — and the research shows — that investment in post-secondary education is crucial for ensuring Ohio cultivates and retains a strong, talented workforce that allows us to stay competitive in a fast-changing economy and provides equity in opportunity to Ohioans all across our state.

Over the coming months, the Ohio Conference AAUP will be partnering with the IO Education Fund to develop specific policy initiatives to help policymakers develop a better trained, more educated workforce, ensuring a prosperous future for all Ohioans.

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Last Call for Nominations for 2019 Elections

In accordance with our Code of Regulations, this will serve as our call for nominations for the 2019 OCAAUP elections. The positions to be elected in 2019 are:

-Vice President-Treasurer-At-Large Member from a public institution with less than 100 members or a private institution

The Vice President serves in the absence of the President and serves as a delegate to the National AAUP Annual Meeting and the Assembly of State Conferences Annual Meeting. The Treasurer also serves as a delegate to the Assembly of State Conferences Annual Meeting and is responsible for overseeing the Conference’s finances.

To nominate yourself or another member, or if you have any questions, e-mailsara@ocaaup.org. Nominations are due by January 15, 2019.

The Next Four Years

Colleagues,

Last Tuesday, Ohio voters went to the polls and a majority elected Mike DeWine as governor. This is not the result for which we had hoped, as we believed the state and higher education would be better served under a Richard Cordray administration. 

For the last eight years, we have faced attack after attack by a unified Republican government. For example, Gov. Kasich and the legislature tried to completely eliminate meaningful collective bargaining for all public employees, but would have eliminated collective bargaining rights outright for faculty, through Senate Bill 5 in 2011.Subsequently, they inserted into successive budget bills this same “Yeshiva” language that would have, in effect, defined all faculty as managers and thus eliminated our collective bargaining rights.

In addition, funding for higher education still has not been restored to pre-recession levels all while tuition has been restrained. This has left our institutions with difficult financial decisions, and often has led to reductions in faculty, hiring more adjuncts, stagnant wages, benefit reductions, and contentious collective bargaining contracts. They also have introduced language calling for a minimum teaching load for tenured faculty; have attempted to restrict faculty from offering our own textbooks in our classes; and tried to reduce our sick leave.

This is why the OCAAUP Board believed it to be important to endorse Cordray/Sutton, as they would have been a balance on a misguided General Assembly. No monetary donations accompanied this endorsement. All of OCAAUP’s funds are strictly used for operational purposes and not for political donations. 

The next four years will be challenging, just as the last eight have been. The Ohio Conference will continue to be vigilant in monitoring legislation and trying to educate lawmakers about faculty issues and the broader higher education landscape. We will need our members help in reaching out to their own representatives and senators to amplify our messages.

This may start as early as this week, when the current General Assembly enters what is known as “lame duck” session, which is often characterized by swift approval of controversial and contentious bills. In fact, the public sector “right-to-work” bill — HB 53 — will be getting a hearing at 1:00 pm today in Statehouse Room 313. In addition, later this week, several bills will be heard in the House Higher Education Committee, including HB 758, which would force institutions of higher education to host any speaker on campus.

As always, we will keep our members posted.
In solidarity,
John McNayPresident, OCAAUP

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2018 Annual Meeting Recap

Thank you to everyone who attended the Annual Meeting in Columbus this past weekend!

Among the business that took place was approval of our 2019 budget, changes to our “Code of Regulations,” which will make certain positions on the National AAUP Council ex-officio members of our Board, and approval of the following resolutions:
2018 Annual Meeting Resolution 1 – Increased State Funding2018 Annual Meeting Resolution 2 – OCOG Funding2018 Annual Meeting Resolution 3 – Instruction First

Christopher Newfield (pictured), professor of English at the University of California, Santa-Barbara, and author of The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them, delivered the keynote address via video conference. Newfield discussed his book and talked about ways that we might be able to address these issues with legislators, so that universities are once again viewed as public goods and not entities to “corporatize.”

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Call for Nominations for 2019 Elections

In accordance with our Code of Regulations, this will serve as our call for nominations for the 2019 OCAAUP elections. The positions to be elected in 2019 are:

-Vice President-Treasurer-At-Large Member from a public institution with less than 100 members or a private institution

The Vice President serves in the absence of the President and serves as a delegate to the National AAUP Annual Meeting and the Assembly of State Conferences Annual Meeting. The Treasurer also serves as a delegate to the Assembly of State Conferences Annual Meeting and is responsible for overseeing the Conference’s finances.

To nominate yourself or another member, or if you have any questions, e-mailsara@ocaaup.org. Nominations are due by January 15, 2019.

OCAAUP Endorses Cordray/Sutton

Colleagues,

The Ohio Conference AAUP Board of Trustees has endorsed Richard Cordray and Betty Sutton for Ohio governor and lieutenant governor. We urge our fellow members to cast their votes for them and engage in other activities that support their candidacy, such as canvassing, making monetary donations (see last article for information about how to make a “free” political donation to their campaign), phone banking, etc.

This is the first endorsement of a statewide candidate that the Board has made. The decision was made at our September 8 Board meeting, at which Betty Sutton appeared and addressed our group.
Given Cordray’s and Sutton’s strong support of organized labor, as well as Mike DeWine and Jon Husted’s record of supporting measures like Senate Bill 5 from 2011 and other anti-union legislation, we believe it is critical to get off the sidelines and actively support candidates that will be positive for labor and higher education policies.

Labor and public higher education have suffered tremendously under the leadership of John Kasich and a right-wing General Assembly for the last eight years. We cannot afford another four to eight years of more of the same, if not worse.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 6, but you can request that an absentee ballot be sent to your home or vote in-person at your county’s designated early voting site.
Sincerely,
John McNayPresident, OCAAUP