The Buckeye Institute presented its testimony to the Ohio House Workforce and Higher Education Committee regarding Ohio Senate Bill 1, highlighting potential improvements in the state’s higher education system through increased accountability.
Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, emphasized the strength of America’s higher education system but noted systemic and cultural challenges facing Ohio’s public universities. He stated that Senate Bill 1 could address these issues.
Lawson supported the bill’s endorsement of the First Amendment and its faculty tenure policy reforms. He also recommended additional policies to modernize Ohio’s higher education system. These suggestions include preventing accrediting entities from mandating diversity, equity, and inclusion policies as part of accreditation for state-funded universities, capping administrative expenses to reduce costs for families and taxpayers, restricting noninstructional university expenses, aligning state funding with post-graduation outcomes, and financially rewarding schools with better debt-to-earnings ratios for graduates.
In his closing remarks, Lawson urged lawmakers to consider providing vouchers directly to students rather than subsidizing colleges. He argued this approach would utilize “the transformative strength of a free market” by empowering students and encouraging competition among universities for students and state funding.
Lawson highlighted several elements within Senate Bill 1 designed to tackle existing problems in Ohio’s higher education sector. These measures include reinforcing support for free intellectual inquiry through amended university mission statements, eliminating ineffective mandatory training perceived as compelled speech, improving faculty tenure policies with post-tenure reviews, disallowing faculty strikes at public universities while extending certain statutory negotiating procedures used by other public workers, and ensuring transparency of course syllabi.
He concluded by expressing readiness to answer any questions from the committee members about these proposals.
