Kent State Trustees Will See 'Charter University' Plan

The long-awaited "enterprise university" proposal, also referred to as the charter universities proposal, will be unveiled to all of Ohio's public university trustees at a conference Thursday in Columbus.

Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Jim Petro, the state's head for higher education, will unveil his report on the proposal during the state's annual conference for public university trustees.

The proposal, as reported so far, would allow universities some flexibility by letting colleges forego some state regulations to streamline efficiency and cut expenses. The trade-off is that those colleges that opt to become "enterprise" or "charter" universities would lose some state money.

The Ohio legislature asked Petro to develop the plan through House Bill 153. The board of regents has spent the past few months examining the idea.

"Through this research process, ways were identified to free Ohio’s 14 universities from burdensome mandates allowing for cost savings and more entrepreneurial activity," according to a statement released by the board of regents.

The report will be available on Thursday here. The daylong conference of trustees is being held at Ohio State University.

In March, Kent State University President Lester Lefton told Crain's Cleveland Business loosening regulations on state universities in general is a good idea, but he wouldn't say whether he supported the idea of a charter or enterprise university.

"We would like to operate using business principles that involve the least government interference and the least government regulation that adds layers of bureaucracy on top of our own bureaucracy,” Lefton told Crain's. “So in general, we're supportive of the notion of freeing us up from regulation."