Politicians to ply crowds at Seminole-Gator gam

TALLAHASSEE -- The marquee matchup between the University of Florida and Florida State University football teams tonight will be preceded by a different kind of competition -- one foreshadowing a political fight over the future of Florida's education system.

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, university faculty and students who want to revive the Board of Regents will work tailgaters at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, hoping to gather support for a petition drive to amend the state Constitution next year.

Faculty leaders at three universities launched the campaign Friday with plans to raise as much as $6-million to gather more than 500,000 signatures and buy television ads to undo much of the work of Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican Legislature in the 2000 session.

What Bush and lawmakers have touted as a "seamless" system of governing public education from kindergarten through college, faculty critics see as a giant step backward, with state universities pitted against each other in a free-for-all for scarce dollars.

When the Board of Regents was abolished, "our political firewall became toast. They're gone," said Rosie Webb Joels, a University of Central Florida professor and a registered Republican. "It's dog eat dog."

Joels was joined by FSU physics professor Dan Kimel, Santa Fe Community College faculty leader Ward Scott, Florida A&M physics professor Bill Tucker, former Florida Secretary of State Bruce Smathers and University of Florida faculty Senate chairman Richard Briggs.

The initiative campaign, called "Education Excellence for Florida," calls for local trustee boards at all 11 state universities and a 17-member Board of Governors, similar to what the regents were. Graham is spearheading the campaign, but he missed the kickoff on the FSU campus because he was stranded at the Atlanta airport.

Jim Horne, secretary to the new state Board of Education, issued a statement calling Graham's campaign "obsolete and unnecessary" and saying it would create new layers of bureaucracy.

Horne said Graham's initiative "would return Florida to an era of governance when delivery systems operated in isolation, when the needs of the system were put ahead of the needs of the student, and when limited state resources were not directed to overall state education priorities."

A political action committee promoting the initiative listed $147,000 in contributions and $70,000 in expenses through Sept. 30.

-- Times researcher Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

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