Gaetz on BOG: 'meddling,' 'tone-deaf'

The next round of the Legislature vs. Board of Governors battle is already starting, and Panhandle Sen. Don Gaetz is firing the shot.

After reading about a proposal by the BOG to have a presence on universities' presidential selection and evaluation committees, Gaetz is drafting legislation to help the Board of Governors "better understand their role in the local selection process."

That role would be pretty much non-existent, he said, under the legislation he's preparing for the 2009 session.

The proposal would "strip the BOG of any micromanagement" in the presidential selection process, Gaetz told the Buzz.

The next round of the Legislature vs. Board of Governors battle is already starting, and Panhandle Sen. Don Gaetz is firing the shot.

After reading about a proposal by the BOG to have a presence on universities' presidential selection and evaluation committees, Gaetz is drafting legislation to help the Board of Governors "better understand their role in the local selection process."

That role would be pretty much non-existent, he said, under the legislation he's preparing for the 2009 session.

The proposal would "strip the BOG of any micromanagement" in the presidential selection process, Gaetz told the Buzz.

"The BOG has a role at the end of the process, to ratify what a university's own process produces," he said. "But the selection of a president is a local issue."

He said the Board's proposal, already criticized by former House Speaker-turned-FSU President T.K. Wetherell and former Secretary of State Jim Smith (FSU trustees chair), makes "the arrogant assumption that the BOG is boss of our presidents. And I don't think that's what voters intended when they created the Board of Governors."

He said the timing of the proposal is surprising, given that the Board is still enjoying tense relations with lawmakers who tried this session to get onto the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment stripping down the Board in size and power.

"It's way too much meddling by people who clearly have too much time on their hands," Gaetz said. "They're tone-deaf. "

Comments

Someone ask Gaetz if approving a local charter school is a local issue or a state issue. You see the FSE (which is created by law) is superceeding the locally elected school boards created by the Constitution. The FSE is a statewide appointed board, just like the Board of Governors.

It is amazing that they (the legislators) can get away with making arguments on both sides of an issue (local control versus state control) for their own puposes without anyone in authority ever calling them out.