Senate President Ken Pruitt wants voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would end the legal wrangling over who has the power to set tuition rates at the colleges, placing day-to-day control over all levels of education under an elected education commissioner.
Voters approved getting rid of an elected commissioner in 1998. Four years later, they approved the creation of the Board of Governors after lawmakers and Gov. Jeb Bush dismantled the previous system that oversaw universities.
Carolyn Roberts, the Ocala real estate agent who heads the Board of Governors, said Prutt's proposal ''effectively ends'' the board's ability to act as an independent authority for higher education.''
''For the third time this decade, this generates another shake-up for the university system. This is the worst thing we can do for our higher education system,'' Roberts said.
MOVE DEFENDED
But Pruitt defended the move, saying it is not right to let an appointed panel control tuition rates. The Board of Governors is involved in a lawsuit that says the board, not the Legislature, should have exclusive power to set tuition.
''I don't want unelected officials determining the tuition rates that parents and students are going to pay,'' said Pruitt, a Port St. Lucie Republican.
Lawmakers plan to move the proposal quickly, with the first votes on the amendment coming as soon as Wednesday. It will take a three-fifths vote of each chamber to pass the amendment out of the Legislature; voters would then have to approve it in November by a 60 percent margin.
Democrats may go along with the proposal because many Democratic legislators want to return to an elected education commissioner.
''We will give [Pruitt's] resolution very serious consideration,'' said Sen. Steve Geller, a Cooper City Democrat.
There would be a ripple effect if there is yet another tug of war over who runs the state universities and colleges. State University System Chancellor Mark Rosenberg predicted other colleges would ''poach'' university presidents and faculty amid another change-over. He also said it would once again make the state university system more subject to political pressure.
BOARD ABOLISHED
The old Board of Regents was abolished after its members turned down requests to add a medical school at Florida State University and law schools at Florida International University and Florida A&M University.
But it's unclear whether university presidents will side with the Board of Governors. Some presidents have clashed with the board, because it has not always gone along with proposals to expand programs they wanted.
''I don't care how we are governed as long as we are well-funded,'' Florida International University President Modesto ''Mitch'' Maidique said in an interview Tuesday. ``It's not like I have the ideal solution.''
He said the proposal to abolish the board of governors was a ''distraction'' in a year when Florida universities already face difficult budget cuts and said overhauling the system that oversees universities would be a daunting task for all the schools involved.
Miami Herald staff writers Oscar Corral and Marc Caputo contributed to this story.
