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RON MATUSThe state's Board of Governors asserts its authority, saying plans for a chiropractic school need board approval.
TALLAHASSEE - Critics accused the board that oversees higher education in Florida of wimping out when it refused to challenge a proposed chiropractic school at Florida State University.
That was six months ago. On Thursday, the board pushed back.
The Board of Governors voted to require FSU to get board approval before it proceeds. Then it weighed in on a more fundamental issue: setting tuition rates.
The board decided to wait before it flexes its new-found tuition-setting muscles. But a lengthy debate on the issue may to foreshadow a showdown with the Legislature, which traditionally has set tuition and shows no signs of giving up the role.
"We're a board that's beginning to understand our authority," chairwoman Carolyn Roberts said after the meeting.
Thursday's actions followed recent revelations that the Legislature quietly changed a law last spring that will allow state money to flow in perpetuity to several big-ticket, pork-barrel projects, including the $9-million chiropractic school that was championed by then-Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, and then-Senate Majority Leader Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island.
It also comes before an expected court challenge from supporters of a 2002 constitutional amendment that created the Board of Governors. That group, led by former university chancellor E.T. York, says the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush are ignoring the amendment by assuming the board's responsibilities.
Thursday's turnabout was led by member John Dasburg, who offered essentially the same resolution he put forth in May. Responding to talk that FSU wants to bypass board approval, he said he wanted to "make sure there's no ambiguity in the state over our view."
In May, the resolution went down 8-5. Thursday, it passed unanimously.
FSU provost Larry Abele said the action was unnecessary.
University and higher education officials met in August to determine what the school needed to do to get program approval, and repeated that desire in a letter last week, Abele said. A presentation before the Board of Governors is scheduled for January.
Roberts, however, said FSU president T.K. Wetherell initially told her he didn't think the school needed board approval, and only recently changed his mind. On Oct. 28, Wetherell sent a letter to legislative leaders complaining that the board did not include the chiropractic school in its proposed budget.
"FSU is being very cooperative now," Roberts said.
The tuition issue prompted a more heated debate.
The board asked for a legal opinion from its lawyers last month, after it okayed a suite of tuition initiatives that it wants the Legislature to approve. On Thursday, a state Department of Education attorney told them the constitutional amendment establishing the board makes it clear the board sets tuition, not the Legislature.
University presidents have been clamoring for tuition flexibility, saying they can't recruit the best faculty and move their schools into the top tier nationwide unless they find new pots of money. The Board of Governors has been moving in that direction.
After Thursday's legal opinion, some members asked: When do we start?
The answer from Roberts: Not this year.
The board's proposed budget, submitted to the Legislature over the summer, is not based on any money from tuition increases. And Roberts struck a diplomatic tone, saying the transition in power should be discussed with lawmakers.
"There may be a time that there's a conflict that needs to be addressed," she said. "But we're going into it with the attitude that we'll work with the Legislature."
In other developments Thursday, a consultant recommended the board reduce the number of new doctoral programs at the state's universities.
The reason: So resources can be channeled to bachelor's degrees in needy areas such as teaching and nursing.
The controversial recommendation is one of many the board will consider in coming months as it moves toward one of its key goals, increasing degree production.
New doctoral programs can be a drain on scarce resources, but they also can bring a school prestige and research dollars. University presidents who attended Thursday's meeting politely offered a slew of objections, but it was clear the idea has strong support.
Later in the day, a proposal for a new Ph.D in economics at the University of Central Florida - the kind of program the board routinely approves - barely eeked out a majority vote, 6-4.
Said Roberts: "The train's slowing down."
Ron Matus can be reached at matus@sptimes.com or 727 893-8873.