State: Plan for regents makes it to ballot

Finally, with just minutes to spare before Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline, supporters of a plan to revamp higher education in Florida secured a spot on the Nov. 5 ballot.

It was the 11th and final constitutional amendment to make it to the ballot.

"This was never supposed to come down to two minutes before five," said Alice Skelton, the initiative's campaign manager. "It's one coincidence after another."

State elections officials initially told Education Excellence its proposal was certified at 1 p.m. Tuesday. But 15 minutes later officials called back to say that the state had counted 28,000 signatures twice and that the proposal was not certified after all.

"Within 15 minutes, we discovered what had happened," said David Host, spokesman for new Secretary of State Jim Smith, who oversees the elections office.

This came a week after the campaign said Broward election workers misplaced boxes containing 10,000 signatures, forcing them to get 18,000 extra signatures over the weekend.

Supporters, led by U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., have spent more than $1-million on the initiative and still have a tough road ahead. Gov. Jeb Bush, the Florida Board of Education and university presidents oppose the initiative.

"It doesn't make sense except for disgruntled people who like the old way, but they are not proposing the old way so it is rather confusing," Bush said.

The amendment would restore a version of the old Board of Regents, which had been in place for 36 years, but keep the new university board of trustees.

Other amendments on the ballot include initiatives to reduce class sizes in Florida public schools and create a statewide prekindergarten program.

On Tuesday, the Florida Association of District School Superintendents condemned the class size amendment, which would reduce maximum class sizes in the next decade but could cost as much as $27-billion.

Thomas Weightman, the association's chief executive officer, said his group feared the plan could harm school districts' efforts to retain teachers because money that might be used for raises would have to be used to hire teachers. School facilities are strained, and subjects such as art, music or athletics might have to be cut to pay for basic services for new classes the amendment would create, Weightman said.

Bush, who also opposes the class size amendment, and the Republican-controlled Legislature abolished the Board of Regents last year and gave oversight of the state's 11 universities to the Board of Education, which now is responsible for education from kindergarten through postgraduate studies.

Graham opposed the overhaul and said the state's system would lead to greater political fighting among the universities and duplication of programs.

The new proposal would create a 17-member Board of Governors that would be responsible for the entire university system. The board would assign duties to boards of trustees.

Carolyn Roberts, a Board of Education member who heads the opposition, Floridians for Education Reform, said she assumed the initiative would make it on the ballot and plans to start campaigning against the proposal today.

"We have a big job," she said. "But the bottom line is, universities are running well and they need to leave them alone."

-- Times staff writers Lucy Morgan and Alisa Ulferts contributed to this report.

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk