Colleges and universities will be limited on tuition increases

We last reported to you that Gov. Kasich had signed HB 49, the biennial budget bill. The governor has the ability to line-item veto pieces of the budget bill. It was widely expected that he would veto the “Medicaid freeze,” which he did, but it was not expected that he would veto any pieces related to higher education.

However, as more information trickled out, we discovered that Kasich vetoed two higher education provisions regarding tuition increases.

First, he vetoed the $10/credit hour increase that community colleges would have been allowed to implement for the 2017-18 academic year. Community colleges can implement that increase for 2018-19, though. 

Moreover, Kasich vetoed the provision that would have allowed universities to increase tuition by 8%, if they offer a four-year tuition guarantee. Universities still have the ability to increase tuition by 6%, if they offer a tuition guarantee, which amounts to roughly 1.5% increases each year.

The Ohio House of Representatives returned to Columbus on Thursday, July 6 to override 11 of Kasich’s vetoes, but decided not to override the vetoes of the aforementioned tuition provisions. 

Our community colleges and universities will continue to be squeezed by lack of state support and the inability to raise tuition. While we believe that institutions need to show greater restraint in regards to administrative spending, athletic expenditures, and grandiose construction projects, students are short-changed by the state’s refusal to invest in their education. 

The Ohio Conference will continue to advocate for the need for greater funding to our higher education system, as well as necessary reforms at the state and institutional levels. We put much of this forward in our latest Ohio Higher Education Report: Education First.

Latest News on the State Budget Bill

Senate Calls for “Textbook Selection” Policies

On Tuesday, June 20, the Ohio Senate adopted an omnibus amendment to HB 49, the state budget bill.

Included in the amendment was new language that would “require the board of trustees of each state institution of higher education to adopt a textbook selection policy for faculty to use when choosing and assigning textbooks and other instructional materials.”

Undoubtedly, this raises academic freedom concerns. However, this language puts these decisions squarely within the jurisdiction of our institutions, rather than the state imposing a one-size-fits-all mandate about faculty and textbooks, like the annual textbook disclosure filing provision that was in the House version of the bill.

This is being viewed as a compromise position, in an attempt to preempt the House from pursuing the disclosure filing piece in conference committee. As such, while we plan to raise concerns about academic freedom, we do not intend to oppose this amendment. Should this language be adopted as part of the final bill, it will be up to faculty on each campus to ensure that the policy that gets adopted does not undermine academic freedom.

The Senate formally passed its version of HB 49 yesterday, June 21, along a party-line vote, and the Conference Committee is slated to begin meeting today, June 22. 

Members of the Conference Committee include:

Senate: Scott Oelslager (R-Canton), Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville), Michael Skindell (D-Lakewood)

House: Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell), Scott Ryan (R-Newark), Jack Cera (D-Bellaire)

At this time, there is no strong indication that House conferees intend to push for the various provisions impacting faculty that the Senate removed, but anything can happen in conference committee. We will continue to keep you updated as the budget is finalized over the next week and sent to Gov. Kasich, who must sign the bill by June 30.

Scholarships Available for Summer Institute

OCAAUP Scholarships Available to Summer Institute in Cincinnati

This year’s AAUP/AAUP-CBC Summer Institute is taking place at the University of Cincinnati from July 27 to July 30.

The Summer Institute features a four-day series of workshops and special programs to train faculty from around the country on various issues. It is one of the best and most valuable events that the AAUP hosts.

The Ohio Conference offers scholarships to members from chapters that have fewer resources. If you are interested in a scholarship, please e-mail Executive Director Sara Kilpatrick at sara@ocaaup.org to get more information. 

The registration deadline is July 3. More information about the event, including the full program, can be found here. 

Senate Removes Anti-Faculty Provisions from Budget Bill, But It’s Not Over Yet

On Monday, June 12, the Ohio Senate released its substitute version of House Bill 49, the state budget bill. You can view the Legislative Service Commission’s comparison document to see the changes between the executive, House, and Senate versions of the bill. 

To our relief, the three provisions impacting public college and university faculty — the establishment of uniform post-tenure review; reduction of, and inability to bargain over, sick leave; as well as the financial disclosure requirement for any faculty who assigns textbooks — were removed. 

Moreover, language was added explicitly stating that colleges and universities are permitted to establish paid leave donation programs, which lends clarity to what has been a gray area for institutions. 

State Share of Instruction (SSI) figures remained the same as the House version, which is disappointing. However, the Senate did increase funding to the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), even above the governor’s original proposed increase. 

These are the results of many weeks of meeting with legislators, working with allies, and testifying to committee. Your messages to Senators made a difference, too.

On May 25, OCAAUP President John McNay gave testimony to the Senate Finance Higher Education Subcommittee. You can view the testimony here.

While we are encouraged by the Senate’s actions, the budget bill is far from being finalized. HB 49 still must pass the full Senate (that vote is slated for June 21); and after, will go to a conference committee, through which the House and Senate will work out their differences before submitting the bill to the governor, who is required to sign by June 30.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be working with allies and having conversations with House and Senate members to try to ensure that these provisions remain out of the bill. We may need to call upon you to contact your legislators, as well as members of the conference committee.

We will continue to keep you updated with information and ways you can help. Thank you for the good work and support you have lent to this effort so far.

We reported to you last week that the substitute state budget bill contained three provisions targeting faculty: one establishing a one-size-fits-all post-tenure review policy, another reducing sick leave for university employees by 1/3 and prohibiting institutions from offering more or agreeing to more in a CBA, and a new mandate for every faculty member who assigns textbooks to file an annual financial disclosure form with the state.

We would like to thank all of you who took the time to contact State

Representatives to express concerns over these provisions. Additionally, we are grateful to our president, John McNay, for delivering testimony to the House Finance Committee last Thursday and taking questions from legislators for nearly 45 minutes. 

Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the amended substitute bill (Am. Sub. HB 49) passed the House earlier today by a vote of 58-36 with the aforementioned provisions intact. 

Am. Sub. HB 49 now will move on to the Senate for deliberations, and we will refocus our efforts there on the real issues affecting quality, access, and affordability. The full Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to receive presentations from various departments over the next two weeks, and then subcommittee hearings will begin. 

OCAAUP will testify to the Senate Finance Higher Education Subcommittee when that opportunity presents itself. We will continue to meet individually with Senators to press for changes that will make genuine improvements in Ohio higher education. 

You can aid our efforts by sending a message to your State Senator through our Action Network page. We will keep providing updates and let you know of other ways that you can help. Please keep an eye on your e-mail over the next couple of months.

Yesterday, the Ohio House unveiled Substitute House Bill 49, which is the heavily amended state budget bill. The easiest method for assessing the changes from the governor’s executive budget to the substitute bill is to review the Legislative Service Commission’s comparison document. 

Post-Tenure Review

Among the changes to the legislation was the addition of language requiring post-tenure review at least once every five years for each tenured faculty member at public institutions. We believe this provision is unnecessary, as our institutions already provide for post-tenure review, or some other form of recurrent evaluation of tenured faculty work. Our colleges and universities have determined what works best for them. This provision essentially dismantles the concept of tenure and replaces it with a series of renewable five-year contracts. This one-size-fits-all mandate simply will create more administrative costs to ensure compliance with what the state wishes to impose. 

Reduced Sick Leave & An Attack on Collective Bargaining

In addition, language was added that would reduce sick leave for university employees and would prohibit colleges and universities from providing sick leave greater than what is in statute, either on their own accord or via a collective bargaining agreement. This is Senate Bill 5 in piecemeal fashion. This is an attack on faculty collective bargaining. We intend to strongly oppose this measure.

Textbook Financial Disclosure Filings

Sub. HB 49 would require every faculty member that assigns textbooks to fill out an annual financial disclosure form to the Ohio Ethics Commission and pay a $35 fee. This is another unnecessary mandate that in effect will amount to busy work for faculty, more administrative costs at institutions, as well as greater costs for the state. We believe that the legislature is falsely assuming two things: 1) That faculty earn a great deal in royalties by assigning their own texts; 2) That faculty assign texts due to influence by textbook companies. We are completely unaware of either of these things being a problem, particularly the latter. This is a solution in search of a problem.

SSI, OCOG, & Tuition Guarantees

The substitute bill also would eliminate $20 million per year from State Share of Instruction (SSI) — the main state funding source to institutions — and flat-fund the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), which provides need-based aid to low-income students who attend any institutions of higher education in the state. Sub. HB 49 would lift the tuition cap, but would require a tuition guarantee to students so that their tuition remains the same throughout their undergraduate careers.

Removal of Textbook Mandate & Reporting on CCP Outcomes

The provision that would have required institutions to provide textbooks to students was removed completely. Sub. HB 49 also calls for the Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education to annually report on outcomes for the College Credit Plus (CCP) program — something that we advocated for in order to ensure educational quality of CCP courses.

We believe it is important that we take action by contacting members of the House Finance Committee and our own State Representatives and asking that they remove the anti-faculty provisions from the bill.

There are two ways to contact these members

1) By phone. Phone calls are the most effective. We would like to target the Republican members of the Finance Committee with calls. If you can make a call to everyone on this list, great. If you have time only to make a few calls, we’ve put an asterisk (*) next to the members who are most important to reach.

*Chairman Ryan Smith: (614) 466-1366
*Rep. Marlene Anielski: (614) 644-6041
Rep. Steven Arndt: 614-644-6011
Rep. Louis Blessing: (614) 466-9091
Rep. Jim Butler: (614) 644-6008
Rep. Robert Cupp: (614) 466-9624
*Rep. Mike Duffey: (614) 644-6030
Rep. Keith Faber: (614) 466-6344
Rep. Theresa Gavarone: (614) 466-8104
Rep. Anne Gonzales: (614) 466-4847
Rep. Doug Green: (614) 644-6034
Rep. Sarah LaTourette: (614) 644-5088
Rep. Scott Lipps: (614) 644-6023
Rep. Robert McColley: (614) 466-3760
Rep. Tom Patton: (614) 466-4895
*Rep. Rick Perales: (614) 644-6020
Rep. Bill Reineke: (614) 466-1374
Rep. Mark Romanchuk: (614) 466-5802
Rep. Gary Scherer: (614) 644-7928
Rep. Robert Sprague: (614) 466-3819
Rep. Andy Thompson: (614) 644-8728

Below is a sample script for your calls. You most likely will be talking to an aide.

“Hello, my name is (your name), and I am a professor at (your institution). I am calling to voice my concern and opposition to several unnecessary and anti-faculty provisions that were amended into the budget bill. The provision requiring post-tenure review is unwarranted, since our institutions already have mechanisms to evaluate tenured faculty. In addition, the language that standardizes sick leave really amounts to an attack on collective bargaining. Finally, requiring all faculty who assign textbooks to file an annual financial disclosure statement is truly a solution in search of a problem. I assign textbooks because they are the best materials to help my students learn, not because I personally benefit or because I was influenced by a textbook company. Please pass along these concerns to the Representative. Thanks for your time.”

2) By sending an e-mail through our Action Network system. The e-mail that you send through this link will go to the State Representative that represents you.

Thank you in advance for your activism on these issues! OCAAUP will be testifying to the House Finance Committee tomorrow. We will keep you apprised of further developments.