Pruitt: Want an unelected board setting tuition?

Sen. Ken Pruitt used his opening address of the 2008 legislative session to make clear that one of his priorities is getting to voters a proposed constitutional amendment that resurrects the elected education commissioner and strips the 6-year-old Board of Governors of most of its university oversight powers.

"We will address the deficiencies in the constitutional amendment passed in 2002," Pruitt said, referring to the amendment that created the BOG. He said it failed to address "what was perhaps the most important question," which is who sets tuition?

"We are going to leave it to voters," he said. "Do they want an unelected board to set tuition? Or do they want their elected legislators to set it?"

Comments

If out of state universities poach any of Florida's public university presidents maybe Pruit can be president of one of the Florida universities. Pruit could then call all the shots...set tuition and pay the college's bills.

Bring back an elected Education Commissioner.

make it competitive...if you have limited enrollment and differing standards, charge tuition prices to what the market will bear.

But give Florida residents the first right of refusal to seats...

Great idea 12:09 a politician can do a better job than someone with a life long career in education.

Well, ya see, it sounds good in theory, but what happens when the legislature is dominated by tax-cutting business lackeys who don't give a rat's @ss about getting our kids an education in the first place?

"We are going to leave it to voters," he said. "Do they want an unelected board to set tuition? Or do they want their elected legislators to set it?"

Let me see,do I want a man with a certificate in waste water management from a community college who is only interested in pleasing lobbyists and finding another political position to run for deciding how to adequately fund universities or do I want people who actually managed to go to and graduate from the university system to make such decisions?

Hummmmm.

Ok - I choose the competent ones who actually have a clue about the value of a quality university system!!!!!!!

No we need someone who is actually accountable to the "people" of the state. Not some political appointee.

Pruitt is way off base on this one.

Pruitt: Do you actually know anything about this subject, given that you never paid tuition yourself?

12:23pm The Governor and Legislature are accountable to the "people" of the state. If you don't like something then do something in November. What possible rationale can you give for wanting another elected politician?

Can we have experts who understand the system and not the next riches person who wins the election with money.

another way for Pruitt to pass the buck, just like they did with property taxes.

Ken Pruitt graduated from Indian River Community College with a certificate in wastewater treatment. I am sure he knows a great deal about higher education.

"Well, ya see, it sounds good in theory, but what happens when the legislature is dominated by tax-cutting business lackeys who don't give a rat's @ss about getting our kids an education in the first place?"

didnt that begn witht he election of clauderoyjerk, back in the '60's?
since then, the piggie in control has been a business lackey without fail.

da hell wid ejukashn!!

gimme ma tax break!!

Did someone stop taking their pills?

Did Pruitt forgot that the Senate confirms 14 of the 17 members on the board?

[terminator]

12:19
while I agree with a great deal of what you say, remember Pruitt is only one of 160 legislators.

I would rather leave it in the hands of 160 democratically elected legislators than a group of twelve appointed board of governors accountable to only one man or the previous governor.

The legislature has proved that they can't take care of anything. And God only knows they aren't fiscally responsible. What a novel concept - having UNIVERSITY people set their rates/fees? Forget the legislature. This shouldn't be under their control AT ALL. Elected legislatures have proven that they are idiots. The one with the most money wins!

Let the universities handle their business. I believe they probably know what's best for them.

Absolutely leave it to the democratically accountable branches. I don't trust the Enlightened Ones who live in the Ivory Tower. They are as far removed from reality as possible.

I'm all for autonomy. Let's have the prosecutors decide what should be a crime; let's have the Department of Corrections determine how long we lock up prisoners; let's have the FHP decide what the speed limit is; let's have the Department of Revenue decide how much the sales tax is and on what goods and services. Who needs democracy to set policy? Let the experts handle it all!

Here we go again. When the Board of Regents was abolished, each university had to establish its own personnel/payroll system, costing the state around 200 million dollars. Boy we sure could use that money now in this year of severe budget cuts. Ask you legislator how he is going to pay for the next round of changes.

Well of course they want to abolish the Board of Governors. They have a strong chancellor and are fainlly able to get the ball rolling the the universities straigntened out. That is of course a threat to the legislators who want their pet projects at their respective university to go through. The Board of Governors would be in the way of that.

Do NOT do away with the Board of Governors, if it happens we will all be sorry like when they did away the the Regents.

You think tuition is high now, let the legislators have control. THey will cut the universities funding even more and then raise tuition to make up for it. We will not be able to send our kids to college.

This is a HUGE MISTAKE!

[terminator]

maybe when you university folks get rid of excessive executive compensation (presidents making between $350-800K), when you start requiring ALL professors (even tenured PHD professors) to start actually instructing students, when you stop building palatial sports palaces and paying salaries to guys like Bobby Bowden and Urban Meyer (even though most of their compensation comes through the booster organizations), when you make university presidents live in their own private residences they actually pay a mortgage on rather than university provided mansions free of charge, we'll actually believe your bogus arguments.
And how about all those double dippers in the layers and layers of university bureaucracy????

Sure Pruitt, just make sure you tie your proposal to a property tax amendment that goes the rest of way. I hope Rubio has the gonads to hold up your amendment until you decide to reverse yourself and revisit property taxes. Fair is fair Pruitt, it is not a unicameral legislature.

When the Senate and House get rid of the unelected FSE board that it created to overrule constitutionally created and elected school board members I will believe that Pruitt (or Rubio for that matter) actually believe in the value of voters or being elected.

At least both the SBE and the BOG are Constitutionally established (as in the freaking voters decided to create these appointed boards), where the FSE is purely a figment of Legislative authority to overrule the Constitution.

11:13 I don't get it - how can you pay Florida property tax on a place on K Street?