Legislature earns an ‘A’ for boosting universities

The Legislature has done a great thing for Florida’s future by endorsing the package of reforms for higher education advanced by Senate President Joe Negron.

Even before the session began, the Republican from Stuart said that he wanted to catapult Florida’s universities into the upper tier of America’s public institutions — to join the likes of North Carolina, Virginia and Michigan: states whose prestigious systems attract world-class intellectual talent and spark new opportunities for economic growth.

Now comes word that Florida House and Senate negotiators on Saturday reached agreement on the major portions of a higher-ed budget that will dramatically expand student financial aid and boost university funding in the fiscal year starting July 1. Significant policy changes will be coming, too, including incentives to improve four-year graduation rates, Negron’s spokesperson said Tuesday.

Students will be big winners. A $180 million increase for Bright Futures merit scholarships will cover full tuition and fees to the best-performing students, known as “academic scholars.” It’s is a welcome reversal for a program that was cut by 44 percent from 2008 through 2016.

There’s more. “Student assistant grants,” the state’s biggest needs-based aid program, will be fattened by $121 million. A “first generation in college” program will double to more than $10 million. Another $500,000 will create a scholarship program for farmworkers’ kids. Scholarships for National Merit scholars, which pay full room and board, will be expanded to students from out of state — a way to draw young brains here.

Overall, the 12 state universities will see an increase of more than $300 million in operational funding. They’ll get $71 million to attract top-level faculty and researchers. Also in line for more money: high-achieving medical, law and business schools.

What’s still lacking is a healthy boost for the teaching staff, which has seen its pay languish for years.

But this is a fine start. Under the new legislation, a university’s performance funding will be tied to having at least 50 percent of undergrads get their diplomas within four years. That’s a result of Negron’s belief that raising the rate of four-year graduations “is probably the single best thing we can do to increase our national reputation.”

Statewide, only 47 percent of the Florida system’s undergraduates last year earned their degrees within four years. At only four schools did the rate exceed 50 percent (University of Florida, Florida State, New College of Florida and the University of South Florida). By contrast, the University of Virginia rate is 87 percent; the University of North Carolina, 81 percent.

It’s been ages since the university system was treated so well by Tallahassee. Between the recession in 2008 and 2016, state spending for Florida’s public universities dropped almost 23 percent — while tuition and fees for students rose 64 percent, the fourth-highest rate of increase among all states.

Florida, third-largest state in population, ought to be a leader in the national rankings. The University of Florida is at a respectable 14th place on U.S. News & World Report’s latest list of Top Public Schools (tied with Penn State). But whereas California has six schools in the top 10, Florida manages to get only three more schools in the top 100: FSU (38), USF (83) and University of Central Florida (93).

Perhaps this helps explain why California’s gross domestic product is nearly three times larger than Florida’s, though that state is just twice as populous. The surest way to grow 21st-century jobs is to invest in education excellence. It’s good news that the Legislature agrees — and is stepping up the game.