The higher-education system needs a governor and a Legislature with degrees in common sense and humility

From the Palm Beach Post's editorial board

If Gov. Scott and the Legislature truly want a top-ranked higher-education system that graduates students who can compete in the emerging knowledge economy, they will stop giving to the system with one hand and taking with the other. They also will stop treating the universities as fiefdoms.

Gov. Scott opposes tuition increases, even though Florida ranks 45th in tuition at public universities. In its budget, the Senate included no base tuition increases for the State University System, though the state's 28 colleges - once known as community colleges - would get a 3 percent base increase. The Senate budget also recommends a $400 million cut for the university system. The House budget is more generous and more reasonable, allowing universities an 8 percent tuition increase.

The state has cut higher education spending 24 percent since 2008, despite rising enrollment. The bad economy has caused many Floridians who are past traditional college age to seek new careers. Raising tuition is the only alternative colleges and universities have to meet this burgeoning demand.

"I don't believe in tuition hikes," Gov. Scott said. "We have to do what the private sector has done and what every family has done, and that's tighten our belts." In fact, there are some areas where government shouldn't operate like the private sector, and higher education is one of them. Gov. Scott also believes that Florida should graduate more students with degrees in science, technology, math and engineering. How can they do that if they are tightening belts that aren't all that loose? The Legislature has never provided Florida's universities with adequate resources.

Gov. Scott has pointed out that 2,600 of the 52,000 university system employees make more than the governor's salary of about $130,000. The Legislature and former Gov. Jeb Bush made a lot of that happen a decade ago, when they abolished the Board of Regents, which had set presidential salaries. The governor, though, has presented no evidence that reducing those salaries would mean a windfall for the universities.

Meanwhile, Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, has proposed a 58 percent cut to the University of South Florida. The move is retaliation for Sen. Alexander not immediately getting independent status for the USF Polytechnic branch in Polk County, which Sen. Alexander represents.

Of the Senate's $400 million proposed cut, about one-fifth would come from USF. The Board of Governors, which oversees the university system, decided that USF-Polytechnic should stay part of USF until it gets accreditation and increases enrollment. Sen. Alexander, who is term-limited, stuck a bill into the budget that would immediately make USF-Polytechnic the state's 12th university, needlessly increasing costs.

None of this makes Florida competitive. The higher-education system needs a governor and a Legislature with degrees in common sense and humility.

- Rhonda Swan,

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/higher-ed-lower-politics-more-time-spent-on-2178255.html