House Speaker Will Weatherford banged the opening gavel in the Florida House this morning, introducing the 60-day session with a speech heavily focused on education. He promised the continued “pursuit of a world-class, student-centered K-12 education system in Florida.” But he said attention must be paid to higher education as well, because “education solves problems [...]
The Florida Board of Governors will enter 2013 with a priority of expanding higher education online. Members will meet in mid-January to talk about their options, including the creation of a public university that is online only. “There could be no doubt that Florida is already a major contributor to the world of online learning,” [...]
Does Florida need a 13th public university that would be devoted solely to online learning? The Florida Board of Governors (BOG), which oversees the state university system, is looking into it at a meeting today in Davie. The 2012 Florida Legislature provided funds to the BOG to hire a consulting firm that would study the [...]
It’s committee week in Tallahassee. Florida lawmakers are arriving for their first batch of committee meetings since the election. Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford assigned members to committees and subcommittees, including seven panels relating to education. This week is largely about introductions and getting organized. Lawmakers will tackle preliminary work before [...]
The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) is starting two days of meetings at New College of Florida in Sarasota. Among the agenda highlights: recommendations by the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform and an appearance by Gov. Rick Scott. Scott created the task force last May to review and make recommendations [...]
Editors note: This post was written by WLRN reporter Georgia Howard. Every state university in Florida has a board of trustees that makes all the big financial and academic policy decisions. But most of the trustees don’t have any background in education. That raises a question: Is management experience or a background in higher education [...]
Florida’s economy isn’t back to pre-recession peak levels, but it’s growing. That’s what the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform heard Monday as the panel looks for ways to reform the State University System. Panel members want to know what the job market will look like in the coming years and which [...]
Stephen Goldstein, writing in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, opens up both barrels on Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to overhaul the state’s higher education system. Scott has appointed a panel, but Goldstein says the recommendations are already written: Sell out state universities and turn them into glorified vocational institutions. The real solutions are simple, he writes:
After repeatedly saying he was against raising tuition at Florida’s colleges and universities, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state’s top two universities to hike tuition at will. The state already allows public institutions to raise tuition up to 15 percent a year. But Florida State University in [...]
The University of Florida is scrapping a plan to trim and restructure its computer science and engineering department, according to the Gainesville Sun. School president Bernie Machen cited “overwhelming negative response.” A Forbes story about the proposed cuts made waves on social media sites (though the story misstated some of the facts.)
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