Three-year degree programs and an increased faculty workload are among some of the higher education reforms Ohio Gov. John Kasich proposed in his new budget, but some Ohio University faculty members doubt the changes will benefit universities.
OU officials are now examining Kasich’s proposed biennial budget, which also includes a projected $16.2 million reduction in state support for OU. Kasich released the budget draft on March 15.
“We’re working our best on looking through the (budget) material,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit during a March 15 news conference. “There are a number of details we still need to look into further.”
Although the governor has not yet presented a formal bill to the Ohio legislature detailing his higher education reforms, some OU faculty members are skeptical about the effects of these plans on the state’s quality of education.
“It’s been pretty clear to us as we’ve been planning for next year at (OU) that faculty are going to have to teach more due to the budget cuts, but we thought we would have some flexibility to deal with the cuts,” said Joe McLaughlin, chairman of Faculty Senate. “… An across-the-board decree like that really limits our flexibility.”
Requiring professors to teach extra classes might also limit their time for research and decrease individual attention for each student, McLaughlin said.
The Board of Regents, Ohio’s higher education board, will work to allow universities flexibility in handling the budget cuts, said a spokeswoman for the governor’s office.
“The intention is for all faculty members to be included (in teaching extra classes), but … the chancellor and Board of Regents will work with universities to determine the best way to implement this plan,” said Connie Wehrkamp, deputy press secretary for Kasich’s office, in an email.
McLaughlin also spoke out against Kasich’s plan to transition about 10 percent of universities’ programs to three-year degrees.
“Most faculty I talked to find that highly suspicious,” McLaughlin said. “… That seems to be a decision that is being driven not for any kind of educational or curricular reason and merely about cutting money. … It sounds like they want to turn the university purely into a credentialing service.”
Wehrkamp, however, said students could benefit from three-year degree programs.
“We want to make sure students who are interested in reducing their overall costs of college have an opportunity to minimize the financial burden on themselves and/or their parents,” Wehrkamp said in an email.
OU officials were already exploring the possibility of offering three-year degrees for some programs in colleges such as the Honors Tutorial College, Benoit said.
Wehrkamp said she did not know how many public colleges and universities in the U.S. provide three-year bachelor’s degree programs, but a 2010 column in The Wall Street Journal names several universities that do, including Ball State University and Florida State University.
Another suggestion included in Kasich’s budget proposal is partnering universities with businesses to prepare students for the workforce after graduation.
“Gov. Kasich is committed to working with the Board of Regents to cultivate a partnership between colleges and businesses in an effort to directly link the needs of industries to college curriculum,” Wehrkamp said in an email. “We want to keep our best and brightest in the state … while also encouraging businesses to stay or locate here because our universities will be providing them with a strong workforce.”
Kasich is also considering removing some regulations on public colleges and universities in Ohio. OU could save money on future construction projects with changes to state-imposed prevailing-wage, or union, requirements for universities.
“The movement away from having multiple prime (contractors) could be extremely beneficial in terms of cost and then there is the question of prevailing wage, but we would have to analyze what that means … in terms of commitments we’ve already made,” said OU Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding.
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