G O V E R N M E N T A L R E L A T I O N S
G O V E R N M E N T A L R E L A T I O N SVolume 6, Number 8
April 18, 1997
Budgets were passed out of the House and Senate and conferees were announced during the seventh week of the session. The conference proceedings are the final phase of the budgeting process. Conferees were appointed by the Speaker of the House and Senate Presi dent on Wednesday (see related story). The Education Conference Committee is scheduled to meet through the weekend to work out the substantial differences in both budgets. House and Senate leaders have said they intend to take the final vote on the compromised spending plan by April 30, two days prior to the session's scheduled sine die on May 2nd.
Most committee work has concluded for this session in both the House and the Senate. The Senate Education Committee met for the last time on Thursday. Bills relating to distance learning - CS/SB's 1538, 1444, 1702 & 2014 - passed the committee (see Spotlight on Bills). The budget committees are the only ones that will continue to meet for the remainder of the session, reviewing substantive legislation with a fiscal impact. Meanwhile, major issues addressing telecommunications, crime and abortion will be debated on the floors of the House and Senate.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions. Please feel free to contact me at 644-4453 or by e-mail, kdaly@govrel.fsu.edu.
Kathleen Daly
* Tuition. The House proposes a 7.8-percent increase to be spent for direct aid to students, with a priority placed on need-based applicants. The Senate proposes a 10-percent increase, allocating $14.3 million for equity funding, $10.2 million for need-based aid, and $10.3 million for campus priorities. The Senate also includes a policy change that would increase tuition for non-degree seeking students by 300 percent.
* Student Fees. The Senate proposes to appropriate a total of $83,459,011 in athletic, health, and activity and service fees. The House does not address the issue.
* State Employee Raises. The House would give all state employ ees a 3 percent raise effective January 1, 1998. The Senate would give bigger raises to lower-paid workers, with those paid $20,000 a year getting a $1,200 increase.
TECHNOLOGY FEE BILL PASSES
A House bill authorizing a technology fee at state universities and community colleges passed the House Finance and Taxation Committee on Friday. House Bill 1871, by Representative Casey also changes the definitions of "Matriculation" to "Tuition" and "Tuition" to "Nonresident Tuition" to reflect current usage of those terms. The bill allows the Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Program to issue an advance payment contract that would cover Activity and Service, Health and Athletic fees at state universities. HB 1871 moves to the House floor next week. There is no Senate companion bill.
SESSION SCHEDULE
April 21-25, 1997
HOUSE
Wednesday, April 23
12:00-6:00pm
Thursday, April 24
8:30am-6:00pm
Friday, April 25
8:30am-6:00pm
SENATE
Thursday, April 24
9:30am-12:00
2:00pm-6:00pm
1997 EDUCATION CONFEREES ANNOUNCED
Senate President Toni Jennings and House Speaker Daniel Webster an
nounced the 1997 Education Conferees on Wednesday. The conferees are
appointed to work out the vast differences between the House and Senate
budgets.
HOUSE
Rep. Bill Sublette, Vice Chair (R)
Rep. Cynthia Chestnut (D, FSU Alumnus)
Rep. Lee Constantine (R)
Rep. Lori Edwards (D)
Rep. Debbie Horan (D, FSU Alumnus)
Rep. Anne Mackenzie (D)
Rep. Jeff Stabins (R)
Rep. John Thrasher (R, FSU Alumnus)
Rep. Steven Wise (R)
Alternates:
Rep. Faye Culp (R)
Rep. Evelyn Lynn (R)
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D)
SENATE
Senator Jim Horne, Chair (R, FSU Alumnus)
Senator Mario Diaz-Balart (R)
Senator Buddy Dyer (D)
Senator John Grant (R, FSU Alumnus)
Senator Betty Holzendorf (D)
Senator George Kirkpatrick (D)
Senator Ken Jenne (D, FSU Alumnus)
Alternates:
Senator Anna Cown (R)
Senator Charlie Clary (R)
DISTANCE EDUCATION
Committee Substitute for Senate Bills 1538,1444,1702 & 2014 passed the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. The bill, which combined several distance education issues into one proposal, in cludes a provision allowing distance learning enrollment to be included within our funded enrollment, however, we will be prohibited from charging an extra fee for off-campus instruction if the fee is required to recoup the added cost of deliv ering the course remotely. Also included within the bill is the requirement in stat ute to create a" joint advisory body," but does not specify its membership. The Florida Distance Learning Network is re pealed and a new Distance Learning Council with specified membership and respon sibilities is added. After passage of the bill, Senator John Grant, Chairman of the Education Committee, acknowledged the need for further study of this issue, and indicated the bill would not be taken up again in the Senate. There is no compa rable House bill.
Reprinted from The St. Petersburg Times,
April 16, 1997
ASSEMBLY-LINE EDUCATION
A Senate more interested in saving money than in providing educational opportunities would run universities like factories, and treat students like products.
Public universities are precious resources, each an oasis that should beckon us to explore new ideas and grow intellectually in ways that often are immeasurable. At a time when the future of this state depends on enhancing educational opportunities for residents of all ages, the Florida Senate is headed in the opposite direction.
To save money, Senate budget negotiators would turn public universities into diploma mills and treat students like cars on a fast-moving factory assembly line. To cram as many students as possible through the front door, they want to crank out students with degrees as quickly as possible through the back door. Students who slow down the assembly line because they dare to explore new paths would pay more. So would part-time students who clog up the factory because they are not working toward a degree. Universities that exceed production quotas would be rewarded; those that fail would be penalized.
This micromanaging, cost-benefit approach sends chills through anyone who believes in the traditional role of public universities, the value of a well-educated society and the necessity of a highly trained work force. It says the state's only interest is in holding down costs through an efficient assembly line. Governor Lawton Chiles and House negotiators should reject such narrow-minded nonsense.
The impact of the Senate's meddling would be devastating for thousands of students. Senators want to raise tuition 12.8 percent for lower level courses. Ways and Means Chairman Don Sullivan, R-Seminole, says upper-level courses are more expensive. But two tuition rates would create a bureau cratic nightmare, and it would penalize serious students who have demonstrated their commitment to education by reaching upper level courses.
Students with the gall to take more than three or four courses over the minimum needed to graduate would pay 50 percent more per credit hour. At the University of South Florida, two of every three students who graduated last spring would have exceeded the limit. Sullivan acknowledges students who change their majors more than once probably would pay the penalty. One of the fundamental missions of any university should be to encourage students to broaden their interests, not fit them with blinders as they race toward graduation.
Why should a taxpayer who wants to return to college to learn about computers or accounting or Spanish pay four times as much as the undergraduate seeking a degree? "The purpose is to educate people on their career track," Sullivan says. "I'm not so sure that you entertaining yourself by taking Spanish should bump a student out of a slot."
The ramifications of such an approach are astounding. This state should be opening doors to improve the skills of its work force, not erecting financial roadblocks. Refusing to spend tax money on students who are not in degree programs also would unfairly hit urban universities with large numbers of older, part-time students with full-time jobs. USF has about 5,000 such students who need more help, not less.
Universities are not factories, and students are not identical sedans rolling off an assembly line. The Senate's number-crunching approach undermines the very purpose of higher education, and it should be defeated.
Florida State University
Governmental Relations
Kathleen Daly, Director
110 Westcott Building
Tallahassee, FL 32306
