Controlling Board approves waiver to contract with private universities for postsecondary courses in corrections

The State Controlling Board approved a Department of Rehabilitation and Correction request for a competitive selection waiver to continue contracts with a mix of public and private higher-education institutions to provide postsecondary and technical training in correctional settings.

Joe Gruber, representing DRC, said the contracts include public institutions (Kent State University, Marion Technical College, North Central State College, Sinclair Community College) and three private institutions (Ashland University, Franklin University and Wilmington College) that the agency said fill geographic gaps where state institutions did not provide specific course offerings. "These 3 institutions are kind of filling in the gaps for parts of the state where those folks were not able to provide services," Gruber said.

Representative Stewart pressed the agency for details on why private universities were selected and whether public institutions could provide identical courses; Gruber offered to provide a fuller breakdown of degrees and program offerings to the representative’s office. Senators asked for that information to be shared with other members. The board approved the item with no objections recorded in the transcript.

The transcript did not include a full list of the specific degrees or course modules for each contract or the dollar values of the contracts; DRC said it would provide the representative and other legislators with that information.