Ohio General Assembly perceptions of the Ohio State University Extension

The concept of the Extension Service is not new and the philosophical base for this organization runs deep into the American history. Informal education for adult learners was organized through agricultural societies in America as early as 1785 (Sanders, 1966). The Morrill Act of 1862 established the Land Grant Systems for colleges, promoting education and research and formal learning.

The state budget process for OSU Extension has been coordinated by OSU Extension, working with the Vice President and Executive Dean, Agricultural Administration, the President’s Office, the Ohio Board of Regents, the Governor’s Office and the State Legislature (Extension Update, 2004). With the influence that legislators exert on a state–supported organization like OSU Extension, it is important to determine how they perceive the organization and what factors influence their perceptions.

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of the Ohio General Assembly concerning OSU Extension and to identify factors and characteristics that affect their state budget decisions. A five part questionnaire was developed to collect data for this study which targeted all Ohio State legislators (N=132) and mailed to the members of the Ohio General Assembly. Eighty-eight percent of the respondents rated their satisfaction with Extension as either excellent or good. Seventy percent rated their experience with the OSU Extension Legislative Luncheon as either excellent or good. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents considered the effectiveness of service provided to their constituents to be very important.

Seventy-seven percent of the respondents indicated that OSU Extension was making either great or many contributions to their constituents. In making budget consideration, 82% of the respondents indicated that they would like to receive their information from OSU Extension by conversations with the county OSU Extension staff, 77% indicated conversations with the Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Science, 73% conversations with OSU Extension state staff.

Recommendations included (a) findings should be shared with members of the OSU Extension Administrative Cabinet for future interaction with members of the Ohio General Assembly and (b) conduct a similar study with focus on the actual distribution of budget dollars for OSU Extension funding.