Florida leaders in denial about budget, Sink says, St. Petersburg Times

By Steve Bousquet
November 8, 2008

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink suggested Friday that the state's Republican leaders are in denial about the dire economy and they should call a special legislative session now to deal with the impact on the state budget.

Sink, speaking to the Council of 100 in Palm Beach, said a possible $1-billion gap in state funding demands attention now, not later.

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BB&T funds UCF business ethics program,Orlando Business Journal

November 7, 2008

BB&T Corp. announced the donation of $1 million to the University of Central Florida College of Business Administration to create the BB&T program for business ethics.

The college is expected to receive $100,000 a year for the next 10 years to fund the program, according to a release.

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Top administrator leaving Flrodia for position at Duke, Gainesville Sun

By Nathan Crabbe
November 6 2008


A top University of Florida administrator who oversaw employment issues from labor negotiations to layoffs will be leaving UF for Duke University.

Kyle Cavanaugh, UF's senior vice president for administration, will start Feb. 1 as vice president for human resources at Duke. He started in that same position at UF in 2005, before the senior vice president post was created for him.

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Top lawmaker expects Florida budget deficit to grow, Forbes

By Bill Kaczor
November 6, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -
Incoming House Speaker Ray Sansom said he expects Florida's budget deficit to increase by another $700 million, but still believes a special legislative session won't be needed to address the shortfall.

Forecasts by state economists have consistently underestimated state revenues over recent years due to a worsening economic slump. They expect the revenue estimate to drop again when they next meet Nov. 21 to revise the figure.

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FAU faculty fighting for more, Palm Beach Post

By Kimberly Miller
November 5, 2008

Florida Atlantic University’s faculty sent out a press release dated Friday detailing their fight for bigger raises at the Boca Raton school.

The release says the faculty union made a request for a 10 percent raise - the same awarded FAU President Frank Brogan. What the university was offering before was the same as what staff is slated to receive, a 1 percent raise and one-time $1,000 bonus.

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Florida teachers work at last year's salaries amid tight state budget, Orlando Sentinel

By Leslie Postal
November 4, 2008

Three months into the school year, most Florida teachers are working for the same pay they got last year, as a grim state budget has stalled salary negotiations in districts across the state.So far, only 13 of 67 school districts have settled on pay-hike agreements for the current year.

Typically, more than 30 districts would have wrapped up union negotiations by this time, said Max Schmidt, executive director of the Florida School Labor Relations Service.

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UF ranks No. 2 in best value for public schools, Independent Florida Alligator

By Thomas Steward
November 3, 2008

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine ranked UF No. 2 for the fourth consecutive year in this year’s rankings of the 100 best values in public colleges and universities.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was ranked first, capping an eight–year run at the top of the list.

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Walmart model could teach school systems to manage, NewsOK

By Malcolm Berko
November 2, 2008

Dear Mr. Berko: This year, the Florida Legislature passed a $70 billion budget and $22 billion of that will be spent on public education. Ten years ago, public education spending cost $10.5 billion. That’s twice as much, and our schools (especially my alma mater, the University of Florida) are not getting twice as good. In fact, many of us would say that the quality of education is really twice as bad. Why is it that college costs increase so much each year but the quality of the education doesn’t seem to improve one bit?

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At the legal limit, NY Times

By Kevin Sack
October 29, 2008

IT is 10:30 a.m., two hours before the Florida Gators will kick off to Ole Miss, and Max, a 19-year-old freshman, is laboring to explain how he feels about the drinking age.

“Per-son-al-ly,” he says, punching out each slurred syllable, “I do agree the age should be lowered. It will cut down on binge drinking.” He throws an arm around a fraternity brother. “But we take care of each other. We will not let anyone drink under the influence.” He pauses. “I mean drive under the influence. I’m sorry. I’m drunk already. It’s been a long morning.”

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A New Spirit, Tallahassee Democrat

November 1, 2008

Nearly one year ago, Florida A&M University and its supporters were anxiously awaiting word about the school's accreditation status. In the midst of a dark time, FAMU board of trustees Chairman Bill Jennings gave credit to one man for being a point of light in a perilous situation.

"If you walked around campus, it was sort of like a dark cloud over the university," Mr. Jennings said of the period before James Ammons took over as university president on July 2, 2007.

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Florida State University hiring freeze, WCTV (Tallahassee)

October 31, 2008

The Florida State University president, T.K. Wetherell, yesterday announced he would put a hiring freeze into effect for the university.

T.K. Wetherell says that FSU is working with 25 million dollars less than they had last year. He also estimates that number could jump to 70 million dollars in the 2009 school year. With 80 percent of the university's budget in personnel alone, a decision has been made to put a freeze on hiring new employees.

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FSU's Wetherell to seek tuition increase; takes shot at BOG, Tallahassee Democrat

By Stephen D. Price
October 30, 2008

Florida State University is under a hiring freeze and officials will lobby lawmakers to raise tuition for next fall if legislative budget cuts become too severe.

Those were some of the issues FSU President T.K. Wetherell spoke on Thursday during his state of the university address at the 2008 Fall Meeting of the General Faculty.

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College students line U.S. 1, rally for Amendment 8, Miami Herald

By Patricia Mazzei
October 28, 2008

Hundreds of Miami Dade College students lined U.S. 1 from Miami to Florida City Tuesday morning, cheering and holding colorful posters urging drivers to approve a ballot measure that would allow voters to agree to a local tax to benefit community colleges.

Amendment 8 on the Nov. 4 ballot would modify the state Constitution to allow counties to ask voters if they want to pay extra sales tax for community colleges grappling with severe state budget cuts.

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Larry Cretul: State not shortchanging schools, Gatorsports (Gainesville Sun)

October 27, 2008


Investing in the education of Florida’s children is not just important for families with children in public schools; excellent schools attract new businesses, keep crime rates low and provide Alachua County and the state with educated young minds that carry with them the promise of a stronger workforce and better tomorrow.

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University president to serve as interim head of Florida Board of Governors, News-Press (Ft. Myers)

By Stephen D. Price
October 27, 2008

TALLAHASSEE – A president of a Florida university will serve as interim chancellor of the Florida Board of Governors once Mark Rosenberg steps down in February.

During a committee meeting Monday morning, Board of Governors Chair Sheila McDevitt said she will make that announcement in a few days, once the chosen president’s board of trustees is informed of the decision.

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Tight times boost public colleges, USA Today

By Rich Hampson
October 27, 2008

forcing many high school seniors who were set on attending private colleges or universities to consider less expensive public ones.

"It's great for the public colleges," says Paul Kanarek, a vice president at the Princeton Review, the test preparation service. For years, he says, private schools usually got the top students, "based on the prominence of their brands and the size of their wallets. Now, the deck has been shuffled."

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