🚨In Ohio, a highway deal needs a public-interest test, but a university hall doesn’t. R.C. 5501.70 et seq. screens transportation P3s for public interest and public funds. There is no matching screen when the state lets private operators onto campus land or into development deals. Lawmakers should require one. ⚠️ SB 450 (FY27–28 Capital Budget; signed June 15) These are the lines that sit next to the defense/development stack. . shows how money will be spent for buildings the public still owns after the campus shrinks. 1️⃣. They already seize campus facilities without a closure vote. Central State, one of the four Vivek named, gets $29,159,024 in basic renovations only if the board transfers facilities-management authority to DAS or another government third party. Bill: SB 450, R.C. 3343.11 (new). Appropriation Fund 7034 / ALI C25500, Basic Renovations. Temporary law under the CSU section: up to $25,000,000 cannot drop until the board certifies the 3343.11 agreement to the Chancellor. LSC bill analysis: heading “Central State University facilities management.”
search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/… LSC item book: CSU, Greene/Montgomery, C25500, $29,159,024.
lsc.ohio.gov/assets/legislat… Keep the university name, take the plant. 2️⃣ They already recapitalize a dead campus under another school’s name. Small Campus Targeted Assistance: $49,500,000, including up to $3,500,000 for YSU–Steubenville at the former Eastern Gateway Community College facilities. Bill: SB 450, Fund 7034 / ALI C23550. Temp language under “SMALL CAMPUS TARGETED ASSISTANCE” (Section 207.00 in the Senate-reported print). Caps: Cincinnati State up to $10M; Shawnee State up to $28.5M; Rio Grande up to $7.5M; YSU-Steubenville / former EGCC up to $3.5M. LSC item book: C23550, multi-county (Gallia, Hamilton, Jefferson, Scioto), $49,500,000. Failed college, leftover buildings, new operator. 3️⃣. They put a SCIF on the higher-ed capital list. Findlay Defense Incubator / SCIF project. . $1,200,000 (Hancock). Mathews’ district. Bill: SB 450, Fund 7024 / ALI CP0056, “Findlay Defense Incubator / SCIFF project-Taxable GA136.” LSC item book: same ALI, Hancock, $1,200,000. Not a theory. A line item. 4️⃣. They fund the workforce pipe on public campuses. $10,000,000 Workforce Based Training and Equipment. Bill: SB 450 §207.00, Fund 7024 / ALI C23567, “Workforce Based Training and Equipment - Taxable.” Intent language in §207.01. LSC item book: C23567, $10,000,000. Capital twin of JobsOhio Technician Path: public-college shops, employer-aligned gear. 5️⃣. They keep pouring money into the same NEO campuses Vivek listed as “fragmented.” Roofs, elevators, instructional space. . not demolition. Kent: LSC / enrolled reappropriation table ~$26.2 million Fund 7034 (KSU block, C270xx), plus taxable extras. Policy Matters tally of Kent projects this cycle is ~$30 million including Stark / Lake / Mahoning. Akron: LSC campus table $18,071,385 (main). Cleveland State: LSC $16,093,635. YSU: local certified list $11,657,522, including Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense. . $750,000, plus the $3.5M Steubenville/EGCC slice in C23550. Operating budget (HB 96, ALI 2356A2, $82.7M) pays you to shrink. Capital budget pays you to keep what’s left useful. 6️⃣ Dual-use / compute adjacent; not contractor occupancy. Supercomputer Center Expansion, Fund 7034 / C23501, $10,000,000 (SB 450 §207.00; LSC item book). OARnet - Taxable, Fund 7024 / C23568, $10,000,000. Campus Safety Grant Program, Fund 7034 / C23566, $7,500,000. Adjutant General / Guard is a separate agency pot in the same act (federal-match heavy, ~$50 million class). Not a campus lease. Bill PDF (enrolled): search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/… LSC item analysis (as passed by Senate): lsc.ohio.gov/assets/legislat… Search the PDFs by ALI (C25500, C23550, CP0056, C23567). That’s faster than page numbers.

Did y’all know the Ohio economic development / military & veterans bills fit together to embed private contractors into our public higher education system, using voucher scheme logic ? ? The only thing that changes is the recipient becomes “defense contractor” instead of “charter” 1. Need a building. R.C. 3333.96 shrinks the public footprint after enrollment drops. Leftover space is “unused.” 2. Need a legal purpose on that land. HB 291 / R.C. 122.67(e): tech centers for academic–business collaboration. 122.67(b) names the research: electronic and cyber warfare. 122.67(c) is the people: business and academic exchanges. 3. Need a defense partner in the room. HB 292 puts military, contractors, and academia in a resource-sharing commission. That’s the version that passed.�Senate sister: SB 362 (Reineke). Same destination, uglier wiring — SCIFs, Israel-bond interest into a Defense Fund, a 121.22 tweak. They revived it in April. HB 292 is what they could enact. SB 362 is the blueprint they still want. 4. Need the research to leave the lab. HB 666 (Rep. Ty Mathews — Ohio Tech Institute, not law yet). ODHE + Ohio Federal Research Network. Statewide tech-transfer database open to colleges, private companies, and government. Sponsor testimony names cybersecurity, AI, and defense-related innovation. 5. Need the workforce to leave with it. JobsOhio Technician Path (live Aug. 31). Up to $10k per worker, paid to the employer — not the technician. First slice of a $300M pot. Eligible industries include advanced aerospace & defense. Training runs through public colleges. 6. Need the airspace. R.C. 4561.62(I) / HB 251: police fly warrantless if a university or private collaborator is on the flight. 7. Need long occupancy. ASSET (HB 785 / SB 417) would lock unused campus land for 99 years. 8. Need cheap money. HB 291 / R.C. 122.671: Treasurer can buy foreign-nation bonds at below-market rates if the purpose is an Ohio megaproject. Interest goes back into the commission fund. 122.67(G): gifts from corporations, foundations, public and private institutions. The “tech center” is not a civic nice-to-have. It’s the use case that turns a mothballed hall into a dual-use site: public university name on the door, private/defense work inside, JobsOhio paying the employer, HB 666 moving the IP, foreign-bond interest and corporate gifts in the fund. That’s how this K–12 line travels upstairs: Fewer students → smaller public plant → leftover building is surplus → private operator moves in. In K–12 the tenant is a charter. In higher ed the tenant is a tech-transfer / defense partner sitting on cyber/EW language, next to a defense commission, on land the state paid the campus to vacate. Vivek can say Ohio has too many universities. DeWine can clap for “access.” Acton can say she won’t close campuses. None of that repeals 3333.96, HB 292, 4561.62(I), or a 99-year lease sitting in the hopper. Watch now: HB 785 / SB 417, HB 291, HB 666, and SB 362. Watch Oct. 6: HB 292 and HB 251(I). Drop line: Same rule. Shrink the public institution, call the leftover surplus, hand the use to a private operator. HB 291 writes the centers. HB 292 writes the contractors. SB 362 is the version they still want (SCIF, Israel-bond interest mechanism would structurally tie an Ohio defense-grant stream to Israel’s sovereign debt.). HB 666 writes the tech-transfer pipe. JobsOhio writes the checks to the employers. 3333.96 writes the empty square footage.