Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By RON MATUS, Times Staff WriterThe Board of Education says the Board of Governors has no exclusive right to grant four-year degrees, despite efforts at mediation.
The two boards that oversee education in Florida are still butting heads over the granting of four-year college degrees.
In a recent mediation session over a lawsuit filed last year, the Board of Education, which oversees K-12 and community colleges, agreed that the Board of Governors has authority over Florida universities.
But the Board of Education will not concede that the Board of Governors has an exclusive right to grant baccalaureate degrees, Board of Education chairman Phil Handy said Tuesday.
"I guess it wouldn't be a great surprise" that the two boards couldn't come to an agreement, Handy told Board of Education members at a meeting in Jacksonville.
The Nov. 8 mediation session was ordered by Circuit Judge Janet Ferris in a case brought by Floridians for Constitutional Integrity, a group headed by former university system chancellor E.T. York.
Neither York nor Robin Gibson, a Lake Wales attorney working for the plaintiffs, could be reached Tuesday. Board of Governors Chairwoman Carolyn Roberts declined to comment, citing a request by the mediator, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Major Harding.
The suit pits the two boards against each other.
Gov. Jeb Bush pushed for the Board of Education in 2000, envisioning a single body to oversee education from kindergarten through graduate school. But two years later, voters approved a constitutional amendment that created the Board of Governors, which oversees the state's universities. The tussle over four-year degrees has highlighted a fuzzy split in responsibilities.
Only a handful of the state's community colleges now offer four-year degrees. But the Board of Education sees room for more as the state confronts a swelling number of high school graduates and critical shortages in some occupations, such as teachers and nurses.
A draft agreement stemming from the mediation remains secret, but Handy and Board of Education attorney Daniel Woodring painted its broad outlines at Tuesday's meeting. The agreement will become public after all parties sign off in coming weeks.
The agreement also addresses who has authority over tuition and fees, but Handy said that issue was a matter for the Board of Governors and the Legislature, not the Board of Education.
"It seems inappropriate for us to weigh in on that, frankly," he said.
In other business, the board:
Sided against a Hillsborough charter school that was shut down by the county fire marshal. District officials terminated the Wilbesan Charter School's contract in August, following the fire marshal's inspection. But the district had other issues with the school, including poor student performance and a claim by the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office that the principal did not cooperate with an investigation into charges of a teacher battering a student.
Heard from music education experts who have developed what may soon be a music FCAT. The Florida School Music Association and the Florida Music Educators' Association created the 30-minute test in conjunction with the Florida Department of Education. The idea is to measure a students' musical knowledge and hold both students and teachers accountable for music education, as the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test now does for math and reading.
Declined to weigh in on calls from disgruntled parents who want the state to push opening day for school back toward Labor Day. The earlier starting dates - Pinellas opened its doors on Aug. 2 - are taking too big a bite out of summer vacation and are the result of an overemphasis on the FCAT, some parents say. Board members said the issue should be left up to districts.
Ron Matus can be reached at 727 893-8873 or matus@sptimes.com