• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Bob Graham Ridicules $300 Million Higher Ed Cut as Issue Galvanizes Democratic Races

October 4, 2012 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Bob Graham, Florida’s governor from 1979 to 1987 and a senator from 1987 to 2005, has been marketing his first novel (‘he Keys to the Kingdom’) while rallying support against higher education cuts. (The Miller Center)

Democrats have started a push to make higher-education cuts and the state’s tuition burdens an issue in state legislative campaigns, even as one of their chief spokesmen in the effort heads to the Florida Supreme Court seeking more authority for the Florida Board of Governors to set its own costs.

Click On:



  • Gov. Scott Vetoes Bill Calling For Unlimited Tuition Increases at UF and Florida State
  • Florida Legislators Cut Higher Ed $300 Million Even as They Create a 12th University
  • Flagler’s and Florida’s Economic Development Hoax
  • Universities Defend Against Rick Scott’s Primitive War on Anthropologists
  • What Rick Scott Can Learn from Anthropology
  • Florida Universities Respond to Rick Scott’s Inquisition With a Massive Document Dump
  • Students as Customers, Universities as Businesses: Scott’s Plan To Texify Higher Ed
  • Tuition Increases Another 15% at Florida Universities, Up 130% in 10 Years; Aid Drops
  • College Drop-Outs: Florida Lawmakers Cutting Bright Futures Scholarships a Further 20%
  • Florida’s Betrayal of College Students: Sticking It to the Young, Pandering to the Old

At a news conference Wednesday in Tallahassee, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who also served as governor, joined Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith and a group of university students to blast a $300 million cut in the current year’s budget for the state’s 12 universities. Legislative leaders have said the cut is a one-time reduction.

“We cannot continue down this course if we aspire to be a state that will be seen by young people as the place in which they want to plant their personal flag,” Graham said at the press conference.

Within moments of the press conference’s conclusion, several legislative candidates had issued press releases figuratively standing with Graham as Democrats look to narrow the GOP’s supermajorities in the state House and Senate. The party is planning to distribute flyers calling attention to the $300 million cuts and hope to highlight their effects on escalating tuition rates.

“We have demonstrably decided that it is better for this generation of young men and young women to pay more for their education proportionally than we ever did, for them to come out of universities and colleges owing more money,” Smith said.

Graham said the state has gone from a system in which the state pays about 75 percent of the cost of a student’s higher education to a system where the state picks up about 40 percent of the tab. Most of the difference has been picked up by students, Graham said.

At the same time, Republicans have stressed that the state’s tuition rates are among the lowest in the nation. Gov. Rick Scott has repeatedly pushed for the board of governors to rein in universities using the state’s “differential tuition” law to attempt to raise tuition by as much as 15 percent, saying that wasn’t the appropriate response to the legislative cuts.

“I think that the easiest thing is to just say let’s raise the cost of living in our state,” Scott told the board in June. “But unfortunately, there’s a day of reckoning. At some point, we can’t afford it.”


And Graham is also part of a group suing the state to try to give the board more authority to set its own tuition rates. Oral arguments on that case are scheduled for Thursday.

The former governor conceded that tuition rates are likely to rise at colleges and universities. But he said the state’s contribution should be high as well, something he said was common in states with higher tuition than Florida.

“We’re essentially using these increases not to supplement, to add to the quality, but to supplant for the money which historically has come from the state,” Graham said.

–Brandon Larrabee, News Service of Florida

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Samuel Smith says

    October 4, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    It’s like this. If you want to recruit quality professors to teach at your college or university, you need to be competitive. I took a substantial pay cut to leave the private sector and teach at a state-funded university in Florida, but what made the move worth it was the environment, the benefits, and the ability to grow my pay by adding occasional additional classes. With this last year’s cuts to the educational system I lost the ability to get extra pay, and with the change to the pension system I lost an additional 2-3% of my salary.

    So now I’m back in the private sector, making $40k more than what I was making in the state university system. There’s your free market competition, I left education to make real money, and I suspect other people at universities will free market themselves into more competitive positions out of state to either universities that aren’t suffering Scott or the private sector.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents
  • WNZF Creekside Festival

Recent Comments

  • Been There on Florida’s Policing of Public Restroom Gender Draws Federal Lawsuit from Trans and Nonbinary Group
  • Been There on Bible Challenge in Flagler Schools Unravels Inconsistencies, Arbitrariness and Confusion in Review Process
  • Wow on Flagler School Board Wants ‘Standing’ Closed-Door Meetings Every 3 Months. That Would Be Illegal.
  • JimboXYZ on Flagler School Board Wants ‘Standing’ Closed-Door Meetings Every 3 Months. That Would Be Illegal.
  • Jane on Flagler School Board Wants ‘Standing’ Closed-Door Meetings Every 3 Months. That Would Be Illegal.
  • Maria on Flagler School Board Wants ‘Standing’ Closed-Door Meetings Every 3 Months. That Would Be Illegal.
  • Annie Pledge-Oddo on Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
  • Mary Jane on Sally Hunt Raises Questions About Using Schools as Shelters During Hurricane Emergencies
  • steve on DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels
  • Roy on Sally Hunt Raises Questions About Using Schools as Shelters During Hurricane Emergencies
  • ban the GOP on DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels
  • Treeman on DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels
  • Nephew Of Uncle Sam on DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels
  • Ben Hogarth on DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, October 2, 2023
  • Someone on Sally Hunt Raises Questions About Using Schools as Shelters During Hurricane Emergencies

Log in