Now that Florida’s 2018 Legislative Session has come to a close, I wanted to provide an update.

This year, there were several major bills under consideration that impacted the Florida College System. One of the biggest was the Community College Competitiveness Act of 2018 (SB 540) which proposed radical changes to FCS governance with a central State Board of Community Colleges, revising the System’s performance-based funding metrics for the fourth time in four years, and imposing restrictions on direct support organizations (foundations) which support student scholarships. I opposed SB 540 along with the other FCS presidents. Thankfully it did not pass.

Three bills of importance that did pass and have been approved by the governor were SB 4, HB 7055 and HB 75.

SB 4

Florida Excellence in Higher Education Act of 2018

This bill expands Bright Futures funding support for deserving students, the Benacquisto Scholarship Program to attract qualified out-of-state students, and the First Generation Matching Grant Program from a 1:1 match to a 2:1 match. It creates the Florida Farmworker Scholarship Program for farmworkers and their children, specifies coverage of the Florida Pre-Paid College Program plan, and renamed the Florida Resident Access Grant (FRAG).

The bill also creates the “Campus Free Expression Act” which addresses the issue of free speech on the campuses of public postsecondary institutions including related requirements and authorizations of institutions.

HB 7055

Much of this legislation is focused on K-12 public, private and charter schools, but some of it does affect the colleges. Following are some highlights:

First, related to collective bargaining, HB 7055 requires an employee organization that has been certified as the bargaining agent for a unit of instructional personnel to include the number of employees in the bargaining unit who are eligible for representation by the employee organization as well as the number of employees represented by the organization, specifying the number of employees who do and do not pay dues. Those organizations whose dues paying membership is less than 50% of the employees eligible for representation by the organization must petition the commission for recertification as the exclusive representative of all employees in the unit within one month after applying for registration renewal.

Second, the bill allows the Commissioner of Education to coordinate communication with the colleges to assess the need for resources and assistance to enable each institution to reopen post-emergency as soon as possible after considering the safety of students and others.

Third, HB 7055 also sets the following enrollment and funding requirements for college dual enrollment programs that will likely have a significant financial impact on our college.

• It designates $550,000 for instructional materials for dual enrollment programs state-wide.
• Home education dual enrolled students are no longer responsible for providing their own instructional materials.
• College trustees may not arbitrarily limit the number of dual enrollment courses in which a student may enroll.
• Any course or program limitations may not exceed the limitations for other dual enrolled students.
• A high school GPA may not be required for home education students who meet the minimum score on a common placement test adopted by the State Board of Education which indicates that the student is ready for college-level coursework.
• Home education students’ eligibility requirements for continued enrollment in dual enrollment courses must include the maintenance of the minimum postsecondary GPA established by that institution

Finally, it also removes the language in an articulation agreement between a private school and postsecondary institution stating whether the private school will compensate the postsecondary institution for the standard tuition rate per credit hour for each dual enrollment course taken by its students. However, the provision must state that the costs associated with tuition and fees will not be passed along to the student.

HB 75

This bill authorizes Florida College System institutions to waive any portion of specified fees for active duty members of U.S. Armed Forces using military tuition assistance that are not covered under the Department of Defense Military Tuition Assistance program. These fees include student activity and service fee, financial aid fee, technology fee, capital improvement fee and any other fees authorized in statute. That means active duty service members using the Military Tuition Assistance program will no longer incur out of pocket costs when they are enrolled in a Florida College System institution that elects to implement the fee waiver.

Each institution is required to report to the State Board of Education the number and value of all fee waivers granted annually, and Institutions that choose to implement the fee waiver will lose fee revenues from current eligible students. However, in waiving the fees, institutions could realize increased student enrollment, which would generate additional tuition revenues

Budget

Total state appropriation for the Florida College System is just over $1.2 billion.  This increase of more than $17 million over prior year is predominantly for special program funding, not distributed appropriation, and does not recover last year’s $30 million in cuts. Also, FCS public education capital outlay (PECO) for facility maintenance, repair, renovation and remodeling is down $2.6 million compared to last year. This decrease will be felt across the System. Additionally, TCC did not receive any special program funding, and funds received last year for the Minority High School Males program was not renewed this year. Our general appropriation and lottery proposed for 2018-19 is just over $31 million which is a decrease of about $11,510 from last year. Overall, this equals out to a 1-2% decrease in funding, the same decrease as an overwhelming majority of the other colleges (21 of the 28) received as well.

In looking to the future, we believe there will be an increased scrutiny on direct support organizations, focus on the safety of our colleges and related needs such as counseling support, and infrastructure and advancement of reporting systems. Governance will continue to be an issue under review and consideration by new legislative leadership. System funding will be a priority for House Speaker Oliva – you may see even more emphasis on performance for colleges and universities under his leadership.