Thirteen community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology have been removed from Governor Bill Haslam's plan for the massive privatization of the management and operation of nearly all state-owned buildings, including college campuses.
In a letter obtained Monday by the Knoxville News Sentinel and The Commercial Appeal, outgoing Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan said that an internal analysis showed that each campus' spending on facilities management fell well below the industry benchmarks identified by the state.
Morgan has also been asking that the governor's team running the outsourcing initiative work directly with the six universities to determine if it's in their best interests to participate.
Haslam has said colleges would be free to opt in or out of the outsourcing plan, which has not been finalized.