TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Rick Scott’s higher education task force tentatively agreed Wednesday on recommendations that include basing tuition on the type of degree a student is seeking and letting “preeminent universities” set higher rates.
The seven-member panel rejected proposals for making it goal to reach the national average in state university funding Florida ranks near the bottom and giving the Board of Governors, which oversees the 12 public universities, lump-sum budgeting authority.
Instead, the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform settled on less specific language calling for more university spending and greater budgeting power for the board.
“Budgetary control … is critical to being able to really exercise that authority and to really get the attention of the universities and the presidents to BOG as the governing institution under the constitution,” said Joseph Caruncho, who’s also a board member.
The task force plans to finalize its recommendations to Scott and the Legislature next week although they’re not due until Nov. 15.
The panel also came out for giving the board a direct role in searching for and hiring university presidents. It now is limited to approving choices made by each university’s board of trustees, which task force members characterized as “rubber stamping.”
The Legislature now can raise base tuition rates while the board can approve additional increases for each school, but the total cannot exceed 15 percent in a given year.
