Senate’s adverse overhaul of Florida state college system

Florida’s Senate is taking direct aim at one of the major success stories in the history of State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota. The school’s nimble ability to shape new baccalaureate programs to neatly fit into the community’s workforce shortages could be handcuffed should new education legislation become law. The bill, already approved by its first committee stop, would put the brakes on the current ability that Florida’s 28 state colleges enjoy to create four-year degree programs by dragging out the approval process and imposing other restrictions.

The legislation (SB 374) carries this dubious designation: “College Competitive Act of 2017.” The provisions covering state colleges, formerly community colleges, downgrade their abilities to serve their communities.

Bradenton Republican Sen. Bill Galvano, Senate President Joe Negron’s chief lieutenant in driving education revisions forward, is a co-sponsor of SB 374. Negron, R-Stuart, has made higher education one of his top priorities, and there is much to like in other legislation, including an expansion of financial aid and tuition assistance, greater access to higher education and encouraging students to graduate on time and save money.

Many of the state college provisions in the 254-page SB 374 don’t mesh with “competitive.” It impedes the progress approved by the Legislature in 2008, which also authorized school name changes to “state colleges,” veering from the traditional community college model. That measure gave the then-community colleges the opportunity to offer baccalaureate programs in high-demand fields, including nursing, SCF’s initial four-year program. In response to requests from local hospitals and healthcare providers, the college launched its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at both its Bradenton and Venice campuses.

Manatee County still suffers from a shortage of nurses. Blake Medical Center alone lists openings for more than 50 nurses of various skill levels on its website.

The current system incorporates controls that limit college baccalaureate programs to career fields and not disciplines in the liberal arts. Nearby universities and even private colleges can oppose community college proposals should they duplicate programs already offered in the area. Galvano told the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau that the motivating factor to clamp down on the expansion of baccalaureate programs at state colleges is to reduce “wasteful duplication” with public university programs. But that check already exists.

SB 374 voids college nimbleness by prolonging the time frame that colleges must endure from the current 100 days to a year just for notification period, an unreasonable extension. Several months is an adequate time frame for proposals to be scrutinized. A year creates an arbitrary barrier to meeting workforce demands in a timely manner. The business community should be up in arms over this provision.

If the hidden agenda here is to steer more students into universities, that doesn’t make sense, either. The cost of a state college degree is a bargain compared with a university diploma, and the state’s 12 public colleges reduce the financial burden from student loans or parental assistance. Also, the typical state college student is older, working and place bound, making it well nigh impossible to head off to a university like a fresh high school graduate.

Plus, the bill caps enrollment in four-year programs to 8 percent of total admissions. Why this bias against the high growth in college baccalaureate programs? Increasing access to higher education is one of Negron’s goals, and this runs counter to that.

Other provisions reveal additional barriers to obstruct college development. The bill creates “a formula that would slow additional (four-year) degrees that could come online without legislative approval,” Galvano noted. Some programs would require legislative consent, raising the specter of political decisions. The State Board of Education currently holds approval authority, but the bill also creates a State Board of Community Colleges.

State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota currently offers seven baccalaureate programs, and SB 374 allows existing four-year degrees to remain in place.

The measure faces criticism, as even expressed among senators on the Senate Education Committee, although the panel passed the bill on a unanimous vote. Questions about “micromanaging” by the Legislature arose. The state university system doesn’t operate that way. Why subject state colleges to unreasonable obstacles?

Galvano isn’t wed to the current iteration and appears receptive to amendments, a positive perspective. The college system isn’t so broken that it needs this type of overhaul.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Senate’s adverse overhaul of Florida state college system."