Boon for universities, cuts for colleges
Besides ensuring a new reservoir is built south of LakeOkeechobee, Florida Senate President JoeNegron had one other legislative priority this year: putting Florida universities on a path to becoming the nation’s best.
He demanded improvements in fouryear graduation rates, secured $120 million to attractworld-class faculty and develop top-notch graduate programs, and increased money for Bright Futures scholarships and need-based financial aid. All told, hewants to put an extra $1 billion into the state university system during his twoyear leadership post. And this year, he got theHouse to agree to add $796 million— without raising tuition.
Negron’s drive is commendable. The nation’s third-largest state should have at least one public university in the nation’s top ten. According toUSNews, theUniversity of Florida currently ranks13th and Florida State 38th.
It’s great to see state lawmakers recognize that top-flight universities require significant support, an investment that carries real potential for return, as regions like Austin, Raleigh and Bostonwell know.
There’s just one problem withNegron’s approach: to pool the dollars, he snatched $30.2 million in remedial funds away from the 28-member state college system.
In otherwords, he robbed Peter to pay Paul.
And that’swhywe encourage Gov. Rick Scott to sign the proposed budget for Florida’s 12 universities, but veto the proposed budget for the state college system. At a minimum, state colleges should get what they got this year.
The governor hinted that such a veto is possible. At a recent Miami event, he mentioned state colleges when asked about the possibility of vetoing a controversial education bill and the miniscule funding increase proposed for public schools.
“We had an almost $3 billion budget surplus,” Scott said, according to Politico. “We’ve got to make surewe properly fund education, whetherwe have a great state college system, we have a greatK-12 system. We’ve got to continue to do that.”
Florida’s unsung college system plays a foundational role in higher education. Local businesses knowthe help they provide in training and certifying people for specialized jobs. Half of their graduates earn two-year degrees, a ticket that guarantees admission to a state university. Indeed, half of the juniors and seniors in Florida’s universities got their start at a state college.
Yet state colleges face tough challenges. They admit almost anyone who applies. They serve large populations of low-income and disadvantaged students. They educate large numbers of students who are the first in their families to attend college. And they have a large number of students whowork full-time.
Still, here’s a littleknown fact. Florida’s college system already claims elite status, starting with our very own Broward College and Miami-Dade College. Along with Valencia, Indian River and Santa Fe, they’ve been recognized by the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, an Oscars-like award given to the nation’s best.
Here’s another littleknown fact: Roughly half the students who attend state colleges need remedial help with reading, writing or arithmetic.
That’s right. After all these years of high-stakes testing, about half the high school graduates who apply to community colleges— aswell as some older folks returning to school— need remedial help to succeed.
Until about three years ago, colleges required students who failed portions of the entrance exam to take remedial classes. But these classes didn’t count toward college credit and for various reasons, a lot of students dropped out. Today, freshmen get a choice and more than half choose to skip remedial classes. As a result, enrollment is down. And that’s how lawmakers justify a $30.2 million cut— down from the $100 millionNegron initially floated and the $55 million the Senate later pushed.
“Itwas becoming a source of revenue without producing opportunity long term,” Republican Sen. Bill Galvano of Bradenton, the Senate’s higher education budget chairman, told the Miami Herald. But just because students aren’t taking remedial classes doesn’t mean they don’t need help in reading, writing and algebra. And it’s hard to see howstripping money away from tutors, computer classes and other support services will help students succeed.
For all the praiseNegron deserves for his “elite universities” push, his chamber aimed sharp elbows at the state colleges.
He pushed to change their names back to community colleges. While it didn’t happen this year, the system’s new oversight board will be called the Board of Community Colleges.
He pushed to change the standards for performance funding developed just two years ago. “They’ve come up with new standards, when colleges haven’t been able to implement under the old standards,” says Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Lighthouse Point. Plus, stripping money from base funding to create a performance pool makes budgeting tough.
He pushed to limit the number of fouryear degrees that colleges can offer, suggesting they’ve had “mission creep” away from associate’s degrees andworkforce training. Certainly, new programs should be carefully considered. But with state universities bulging and turning students away, we don’t hear them complain that state colleges are creating needless competition, though for-profit colleges make such complaints. Plus, students in rural areas might find it easier to get a teaching or nursing degree at a state college, rather thanmove to a university town miles away.
At Broward College, the cuts— plus new expenses for utilities and pension contributions— led President J. David Armstrong’s staff to have to identify $5.85million in efficiencies.
Among other things, Broward College expects to keep positions vacant, reduce remedial classes and squeeze nickels to give employees a 1 percent pay raise and raise the minimumwage to $15 an hour.
It also expects to increase the average class size from23 to 25. “The facultywon’t be happy about that and I don’t blame them,” Armstrong said. “It’smoreworkload on them, and ultimately that potentially has impact on quality. They can’t spend as much time giving coaching and feedback.”
Broward College’s board of trustees this week joined all other members of the Florida College System in calling forGov. Scott to veto the system’s proposed budget and restore the $30.2 million in cuts.
For the sake of our students, our businesses and our community, we join the call.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, AndrewAbramson, Elana Simms, Gary Stein and Editor-in-ChiefHoward Saltz.