USF Sarasota-Manatee takes a big hit in governor’s vetoes

The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee saw 14 percent of its annual state funding disappear when Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $3 million in funding for a science partnership with Mote Marine Laboratory, and $300,000 for an education program that integrates the arts into teaching.

“There is no doubt that these cuts will have a serious impact on our ability to deliver these high-quality programs and partnerships to our community,” USFSM regional chancellor Terry Osborn said in a statement emailed to the Herald. “Despite these challenges, USF Sarasota-Manatee remains more committed than ever to continue to serve this region’s needs and to put our students on a path to success. We value our partnerships with Mote and others throughout the region and are committed to the short and long term success of each of our programs.”

USFSM began offering biology degrees in 2014 through a partnership with the marine science laboratory. Mote donated unused space in the Ann and Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center on City Island to USFSM, and since its inception the biology program has more than doubled, going from 93 students in the fall of 2014 to 219 in 2016.

USFSM will receive $20.6 million in the budget, and the governor’s veto letter said the school “has the ability to fund these initiatives.”

Scott made the series of vetoes, totaling $409 million, to free up funds for K-12 education, the tourism promotion agency Visit Florida and a local grant program through the Department of Economic Opportunity.

Despite the funding cut, it is not likely that the Mote program will be eliminated. On Monday, Mote Marine Laboratory president and CEO Michael P. Crosby described the cut as a “major disappointment,” but said Mote would be working with USFSM to ensure the program continues.

USFSM’s biology department relies heavily on the partnership, and biology is defined as a “program of strategic emphasis” by the State University System’s Board of Governors. The performance-based funding allocated by the state is linked to the success of the program.

Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, is an honorary trustee with Mote, and he said the cut to Mote was “unjustifiable” in light of what the governor has said are his educational priorities.

“These are very important programs and consistent with what the governor has said he believes is part of what’s important in education,” Galvano said.

The governor and Galvano have clashed on funding for Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development agency, during this year’s legislative session. Galvano said he hopes the cut to USFSM was not political, but he noted, “It is impossible to pull politics out of the politics.”

“A few years back we had a series of vetoes from this governor that were a bit erratic and inconsistent, but I’m not prepared to say this was a purely political veto,” Galvano said. “Perhaps so, but it would be very disappointing to think that programs like the USF-Mote program, that bring real value to the state of Florida, would be subject to that type of political retribution.”

Byron Shinn, chairman of the USFSM campus board, described the partnership with Mote as one of the “bright spots of our campus,” and he said students are enticed to study biology once they see the type of hands-on research available at the lab.

“The Mote lab is one of the bright spots of our campus, students being able to work alongside PHDs,” Shinn said. “They are not just doing a biology class, they are doing it side by side with a PHD doing real-life research.”

The State College of Florida received a $500,000 cut in Scott’s vetoes as well. Scott vetoed a line item that allocated $500,000 of SCF’s recurring funds to Learning Gateway, a defunct program SCF once ran to provide educational resources for parents of students with disabilities.

Brian Thomas, a special assistant to SCF president Carol Probstfeld, said Learning Gateway ended with the Great Recession in 2009 and that the school had not run the program or requested funding for it since that time. He said the proposal to re-designate $500,000 in SCF’s recurring funding was not the school’s decision.

“It’s just a strange case because it’s not a program we were doing or requested funding for,” Thomas said. “This program was stuck back in the budget. We haven’t done it since ’08 or ’09. It popped back into budget process without our requesting it, and that veto cost us $500,000.”

Legislators will reconvene for a special session on Wednesday, when they are likely to approve a budget with increased funding for schools, tourism and economic development.

This story was originally published June 5, 2017 at 5:51 PM with the headline "USF Sarasota-Manatee takes a big hit in governor’s vetoes."