Chancellor seeks mandate relief for Ohio colleges

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s higher- education chief released details Wednesday of a program for easing regulations on public universities if they agree to give up some state money.

Chancellor Jim Petro posted his proposal online for creating semiprivate enterprise or charter universities.

Petro’s plan would begin by loosening state mandates on all 14 public universities, giving them an opportunity to gauge the impact on their budgets. It then would move into a second phase when they’d be offered the chance for enterprise status and more relief from state regulations in exchange for investing a portion of their state funding, for example, into scholarships.

The proposal would allow university boards to set their own terms, discuss proprietary information behind closed doors and settle small lawsuits or spend allocated funds without outside approval.