Ohio Senate passes Senate Bill 1 reshaping public higher education governance and classroom rules

The Ohio Senate passed Senate Bill 1, the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, on Feb. 11, 2025, changing state oversight and several operating rules for public universities and community colleges. The final roll call showed 21 yeas and 11 nays, and the bill was declared passed and titled.

The bill’s sponsors and supporters said SB 1 will restore academic balance, increase transparency on course content and finances, and give trustees stronger management tools; opponents said it is a major overreach that threatens academic freedom, labor rights and programs serving historically underserved students.

Senator Theresa Serino, sponsor of Senate Bill 1, said the legislation is intended to “restore public confidence in these institutions” and argued the state has a duty to act if institutions do not address problems internally. “This bill will better empower boards of trustees to direct future strategies and to do so with dispatch,” Serino said on the floor.

Opponents framed the bill as an attack on faculty and students. “I rise in opposition to this bill, what I call the Ohio Higher Education Destruction Act,” said Senator Vernon DeMora, who criticized provisions banning strikes for full‑time faculty and broad, vague limits on “controversial” classroom material.

Senator Rogner, chair of the higher education committee, said the measure responds to what legislators view…