Florida Board Of Governors Hears Recommendations From Higher Education Task Force

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Dr. Dale Brill chairs the Higher Education Task Force. Members have come up with a list of recommendations for Gov. Rick Scott and the BOG.

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 regarding operation of the State University System.

Their final report is due to the governor this week.

Blue Ribbon Chairman Dr. Dale Brill will share the panel’s work.

Some of the task force’s key recommendations:

• BOG should develop a set of system wide and institution-specific metrics as expected contributions of each university — consistent with its unique mission — toward overall system goals.
• Universities should align their annual and strategic plans with the BOG’s strategic goals and report individual progress. In return, the BOG should remain committed to a system that allows the individual institutions to innovate, evolve, and respond to their unique missions.
• The State of Florida should be committed to funding the institutions at a level comparable to the expectations placed on them through a performance funding system.
• A differentiated tuition model should be built on the establishment of specific high skill, high wage strategic demand degree programs. The Legislature and BOG should move away from uniform tuition rates.
• Bright Futures and Florida Pre-Paid programs require subsequent deliberation by a dedicated team of analysts and experts. These programs will be impacted by the adoption of certain recommendations in the report.

Gov. Scott is expected to tell the Board Wednesday afternoon that he does not approve of any tuition hikes.

Then, the BOG budget committee will spend time Thursday morning talking about performance funding.

BOG Communications Director Kim Wilmath said it’s “something we’ve been talking about for the past couple months as part of our $118-million legislative budget request.”

“We expect to continue refining the funding model as well as decide on which metrics would be evaluated at each university,” Wilmath said, “at this meeting and in meetings to come.”