Education cuts coming into focus, News Herald (Panama City)

January 10, 2009
By Chris Segal

TALLAHASSEE -- The working draft of a bill aimed at resolving the state's billiondollar budget deficit reduces perstudent funding through the Florida Education Finance Program by 2 percent but gives school district moreflexibilityinspendingearmarked funds, lawmakers said Friday.

State universities and community colleges also will be cut by 4 percent and public schools and Florida's voluntary pre-kindergarten program by 2 percent. The summer prekindergarten program, though, will take a bigger hit with two more students added to each class for a maximum of 12 per teacher.

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Florida community colleges could lose millions in budget cuts, Central Florida 13 News

December 29, 2008

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's community colleges have learned they are on the chopping block, and could see at least $21 million in budget cuts.
In response, some lawmakers want to loosen the rules over the amount of money community colleges are required to have in the bank.

Community colleges currently must stash away 5 percent of their total budgets, but some lawmakers argue that money could prevent layoffs and equipment shortages.
The lawmakers said that law was passed for a reason -- to have security in the midst of uncertainty -- but Rep. Will Weatherford, the state House's point man on community college funding, noted the 5 percent holdback does not do much good if it cannot be accessed.

"This whole act, I think, is healthy," Weatherford said. "It's not fun cutting budgets. It's not fun going through this process, but it forces us to look at how we do state government, and what kind of mandates do we put on local government, and can we do better?"
Under Gov. Charlie Crist's budget-cutting proposal, there is also another $43 million, mostly in new building construction, that community colleges could lose.

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Higher Education scorecard stings Florida, St. Petersburg Times

By Donna Winchester
December 3, 2008

Florida once again has received mediocre scores on a national report card evaluating the state's colleges and universities.

While college enrollment among the state's 18- to 24-year- olds has improved since the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its first study in 2000, the group's latest report, which will be released today, ranks Florida near the bottom in college participation.

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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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Amendment 8 holds dangers for community colleges, Herald Tribune

October 9, 2008


While attention has been given to other high-profile amendments on November's ballot, a lesser known amendment has the potential to raise local taxes and cause unintended consequences for community colleges -- Florida's point of entry to higher education for more than 800,000 students every year.

Amendment 8, known as the local option sales tax, would allow counties to increase their sales tax to supplement community college funding. (Taxpayers would have to vote for the tax.) The amendment was placed on the ballot by the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission with what I believe were good intentions to promote the valuable contributions of community colleges. However, the commission failed to recognize the amendment's potential drawbacks for the community college system.

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Study says community college students face obstacles, Tampa Tribune

By Adam Emerson
October 6, 2008

As Florida's public universities reject more applicants and drive them to community colleges, a Harvard researcher said that students who start at two-year schools are more likely to face obstacles on their way to a diploma.

In a report for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard education Professor Bridget Terry Long writes that students who start at two-year colleges are "significantly less likely" to get a bachelor's degree in six years than students who start at four year schools.

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For Florida community colleges, Who should pay? Inside Higher Educaiton

September 19, 2008

Remember the theory that community college should be supported by states, localities and tuition? In Florida, it’s strictly a theory, as counties don’t provide any financial support. In a move that is dividing community colleges in the state, a proposal on the fall ballot for a constitutional amendment would give counties the authority to levy a local-option sales tax to supplement state funding for their community college.

Currently, Florida community colleges are funded entirely by the state in addition to student tuition and fees. Some support the amendment, which would pave the way for an additional funding source to compensate for a strained state budget. Others, however, worry it will shift the burden of community college funding to local authorities and create inequities among institutions as a result of the disparate economies of Florida’s urban and rural counties. (Many of Florida’s community colleges are known as leaders in the movement to offer four-year degrees and to drop “community” from their names, but these institutions are equally involved and would be equally affected by this shift.)

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Midlands Tech board powerless on president's paycheck, The State (Columbia, S.C.)

By Wayne Washington
September 7, 2008

Marshall “Sonny” White became president of Midlands Technical College two years ago with a promise from the chairman of the school’s board: Do well and your below-market salary will be raised.

White, by all accounts, has done well, exceeding expectations, according to Robert Dozier, chairman of the board when White was hired. But White’s $141,096 salary is frozen and cannot be raised by trustees.

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Task force charged with finding new college model, St. Petersburg Times

By Donna Winchester
September 5, 2008

Florida's colleges and universities must begin producing more graduates if the state is to stay on the economic cutting edge, the head of one of the state's most influential business groups told education leaders Thursday.

More important, those graduates must be properly prepared to hit the ground running.

"That degree or certificate has to mean something," said Barney Bishop, president and chief executive officer of Associated Industries of Florida. "If all you're going to do is teach kids to think inside the box, we've already lost the race with Asia."

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What's missing" Gainesville Sun

August 2, 2008

What's in a missing word?

That Santa Fe College no longer has the word "Community" in its title makes neither its stature nor its mission radically different. With the dropped word, however, comes new expectations: Santa Fe is now one of a handful of former community colleges authorized to offer four-year degree programs.

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Polk residents deserve access to affordable, quality higher education, The News Chief (Winter Haven)

By Dr. Eileen Holden
July 28, 2008

Polk Community College's core mission has always been to provide open access and affordable tuition to students wishing to complete the first two years of a bachelor's degree or to students seeking one- and two-year certificate and degree programs for immediate entry into a high-paying career. This mission will always remain at the heart of what we do.

As we know from this recent legislative session, higher education in Florida is changing. As our universities struggle with budget cuts, insufficient tuition revenue to support critical initiatives and increased pressures associated with Bright Futures and the Florida Pre-Paid program, lawmakers are looking to community colleges to offer cost-effective alternatives.

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Florida eyes overhaul of state higher education, Times-Union

By Adam Aasen
July 23, 2008

A year from now Florida Community College at Jacksonville might not be a community college.

It might not even have the same name.

During this past legislative session, Florida lawmakers created a new system for higher education in the state. Community colleges will be able to apply to become "state colleges" and offer four-year degrees. Currently only a few community colleges can offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees.

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State budget cuts lead to increased SFCC tuition, Independent Florida Alligator

By Kristen Huff
July 1, 2008

SFCC’s Board of Trustees approved a budget plan last week that will raise tuition 6 percent and cut $3 million in spending.President Jackson Sasser said the changes result from an 11 percent cut in state funding, including the additional 4 percent slash approved by Gov. Charlie Crist on June 12.

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War of fiscal attrition, The Ledger (Lakeland)

June 19, 2008

A week ago Wednesday, Gov. Charlie Crist quietly signed a new state budget that cuts spending by $6 billion from the previous year. On the very next day, he announced that he would withhold an additional 4 percent from state agencies in anticipation of budget cuts yet to come. Call it a fiscal double whammy.

Crist did the same thing last year, in preparation for reductions in state revenue collections that were projected because of the failing economy. The projections came true.

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Wrong reform: College system shake-up threatens quality, Independent Florida Alligator

June 17, 2008

Last week marked the dawn of a new era for Florida’s higher education system. Whether it represents a breakthrough or another example of political expedience, grandstanding and shortsightedness remains an open question.

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Whose job is it? Inside Higher Ed

June 16, 2008

Florida lawmakers have spent the last several months slashing university budgets, and now they’re looking to the state’s community colleges for help filling some of the universities’ traditional roles.

A handful of Florida community colleges have been offering accredited bachelor’s degrees for years, but last week Gov. Charlie Crist officially sanctioned a bold and controversial plan that will expand that practice and change the complexion of higher education in the state.

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Universities need more than good ideas, Tallahassee Democrat

Mary Ann Lindley
June 15, 2008

Ina few years, we may not recognize higher education in Florida. The community colleges are newly authorized to offer four-year degrees, for example, a concept that will make a college education more convenient and less expensive for students.

This may help ease the disappointment for some high-school grads who wanted to go to Florida State but were among the roughly 2,000 turned away for this fall. The university is chock-full because of chronic underfunding by the Legislature.

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Community colleges shed names, turn from original mission, Tampa Tribune

June 8, 2008

It's interesting to note that among the nine Florida community colleges which joined a pilot program to create a new state college system in which two-year institutions becomes ones granting four-year degrees, every school had dropped the word "community" from its name.

These are the same colleges created to offer open access to their communities with the promise of university admission to any student who earned a two-year associate's degree, but that is no longer reflected in their identities.

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