Thursday, March 6, 2008
By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A constitutional proposal that would ensure the Legislature, not an appointed board, can set tuition sailed through its first Senate committee Wednesday after lawmakers cast aside arguments it would politicize Florida's university system.
Besides making sure the Board of Governors can't set tuition, the proposed amendment also would again make Florida's education commissioner an elected position, abolish Florida's appointed State Board of Education and return its authority over primary and secondary schools to the governor and Cabinet. Until 2003 the governor and Cabinet, including an elected education commissioner, oversaw the state's schools.
The measure would undo constitutional provisions supported by two former governors, Democrat Bob Graham and Republican Jeb Bush.
Graham led a citizen initiative in 2002 that created the Board of Governors to oversees the 11 state universities. Graham and the board are suing the Legislature, claiming the panel, not lawmakers, have tuition-setting authority. The proposed amendment, though, would settle the issue regardless of how the courts rule.
"This new governance structure would clearly say that the decision on tuition is in the hands of the appropriators of the state's money," said Senate President Tempore Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey, who is sponsoring the measure (SJR 2308), which was before the Education Prekindergarten-12th Grade Committee.
Carlton said legislators can better balance the public's desire for low tuition - Florida has the nation's lowest - against the financial needs of the universities. Facing budget cutbacks, the board approved an 8 percent tuition increase in January without legislative approval.
University System Chancellor Mark Rosenberg argued against the proposal, which also would reduce the board from 17 to 8 members and cut their terms from seven to four years. He said it would hold universities "captive to political interests of the moment."
The board's size and terms are designed as a buffer against politics because a governor, who can serve only eight years, would be unable to appoint the entire panel until nearly out of office.
The committee also rejected arguments from Patricia Levesque, executive director of two foundations Bush has formed to advocate his education policies. She said having an elected commissioner would politicize education. Abolishing the board and giving its duties back to the governor and Cabinet will dilute the governor's power because he would no longer be the state's top education official, she said.
The measure, which passed unanimously, will be heard by the Higher Education Committee before it can go to the Senate floor. It's a top priority of Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie.
A similar proposal is to be heard Friday by the House Schools and Learning Council.
Graham said in an interview he was surprised by the proposal because "it seems to be a concession" the board has tuition-setting authority under the 2002 amendment.
The panel is similar to the Board of Regents the Legislature abolished in 2001 after it opposed two new medical schools favored by influential lawmakers. As a result, Graham said, "We became the most dysfunction university system in the country."
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Reprinted from the Associated Press
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