A glimpse into the legislative process
By Sharon Crow,
Senior Vice President for Government Relations
 |
| Sharon Crow |
To help understand how legislation – such as developmental
education reform and dual-enrollment funding – that affects higher education
comes into play, it’s key to know the basics of the process. The results each
year can acutely affect a college’s operations and services to students.
Timeframe and funding
lay-out
The Florida Legislature holds its 60-day session in March
and April every year, except when reapportionment occurs with completion of the
U.S. Census every 10 years. The regular session usually adjourns at midnight
the Friday of the first week of May, wrapping up the chaotic last few weeks as
members and committees work diligently to push through “must pass” bills and
amendments. At the same time, budget conference committee meetings are added to
an already hectic Floor schedule.
When the budget conference subcommittees meet, they each
have a budget allocation and must work within the parameters of those
allocations. In Florida, the major silos of funding for public education
include the PreK-12 sector, the Florida College System (FCS) and the State
University System (SUS). During the conference process, in a positive
economic climate, additional funds may be added.
Primary areas of concern for each college include securing –
competing for – operating funds in the Florida College System Program Fund
(FCSPF) and lottery funding, formally known as the Education Enhancement Trust
Fund. Special project funding may be included for individual institutions and
Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) is the source for capital project
funding in most cases.
Once the conference report is agreed upon by both the House
and the Senate, each Floor must present the report to its members and provide
enough time for the mandatory 72-hour “cooling off” period prior to final passage
of the appropriations act. This gives all members and the public an opportunity
to review items in the budget prior to debate and passage. At this point, the
conference report can only be voted “up” or “down” on each Floor – no
amendments can be made at this time in the process. Generally, the budget will pass and when it
is officially sent to the Governor, he reviews it and has line- item veto power
for issues in the budget. The Governor’s veto(es) can only be overturned by a
2/3 majority vote by each chamber and this is very rare.
The FCS’s budget allocation this year was increased by over
$30 million for “compression” to bring the lowest-funded eight FCS institutions
up to the system average. Another $13 million was provided via the formula
which takes into account enrollment growth as one of many factors. The majority
of new funds were distributed to the eight FCS institutions and the colleges
that continued to have enrollment growth in the last year. Additionally, funds
that were appropriated for construction projects via the Florida College System
Program Fund in 2012 were backed out. The net effect to Daytona State College
was a reduction of about $1.5 million to our recurring funds from the 2012 Legislative
Session.
Legislation and its
repercussions
In addition to the budget, there were significant
substantive education bills passed in the 2013 Legislative Session. Developmental
Education, also known as remedial education, saw significant reform. Institutions now have more options for
advising and placing students into courses, labs or programs that will help them
attain the skills needed to successfully complete college level gateway
courses. Most graduates who entered Florida public high schools after 2003-04
and active military personnel do not have to participate in placement testing,
but may opt to do so. They cannot be required by the college to test or enroll
into traditional developmental education courses.
Given that a high number of students need developmental
education in math, conversations took place last summer about whether or not
all majors should require the same math gateway courses. A major focus of the 2013
reform was to provide options for all degree-seeking students to successfully
complete an appropriate college-level math gateway course.
To accomplish this, the legislation established
“Meta-majors” – sets of related majors that have similar academic and skill requirements
for different yet similar careers in specific fields. Students going into
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) or similar programs would
still be required to take College Algebra as the gateway math course, for
example. While non-STEM program students could still take College Algebra as
their gateway course, they would also have the option of taking Liberal Arts
Math or Elementary Statistics, for example. College curriculum experts are
looking at the levels of required math for each Meta-major.
Daytona State is
planning ways to implement developmental education reform. Recently Dr. Eaton
convened a meeting with representatives from the college’s Communications and
Math faculty, Student Services, Adult Education, internal SACS workgroup,
Institutional Research and others to assure successful college-wide
implementation of the developmental education reform. Faculty and
administrators are hard at work deciding what changes will be needed in
process, advising and teaching parameters.
On another topic, recognition of “industry certification” is
gaining in popularity across the country as state education systems prepare
students for the workforce. In Florida, public K-12 career academies and career
technical centers operated by local school districts have been offering
industry certification programs for several years. The mandate for Florida’s
College System institutions was formalized in Senate Bill 1076 in 2013.
Incentives for industry certifications in specified areas include colleges earning
performance funds for specified industry certifications completions.
In other benchmarks, a major Dual Enrollment funding policy
passed in 2013. The Florida Constitution provides that every student shall have
access to a free primary and secondary public education. This prohibits
colleges from charging tuition to students for dual-enrolled courses since
these courses count toward high school graduation. Dual enrollment has
increased significantly statewide in recent years and now that college students
pay nearly 50% of the cost of their education in tuition, colleges were
recognizing a significant loss in revenue through the increased dual enrollment
students. The Legislature’s solution was to require the public school system to
pay the tuition. Dual Enrollment Articulation Agreements are still being drawn
up to reflect the statutory changes.
Several other pieces of passed legislation included
authorization for:
·
upper division course fee waivers in order to
offer a $10,000 baccalaureate degree;
·
a requirement that career dual enrollment must
lead to industry certifications;
·
implementation of action steps to employment for
Adult General Education students;
·
creation of new high school diploma
designations;
·
revisions to education preparation programs; and
·
other miscellaneous laws impacting the
operations of our institutions.
As the Florida Colleges along with the Department of
Education have begun implementation of the 2013 Legislative Session changes,
issues are being identified for the 2014 session. There are “glitches” that
need to be fixed due to unintended consequences of major legislation passed in
the current year. There are member and committee bills that failed the 2013
session that will likely come back in the 2014 session. Studies and interim
projects are being monitored to determine what potential legislation may be
proposed based on findings. Members have been filing new bills for the 2014
session. Colleges are gathering data and tracking and researching those potential
legislative issues that may impact students, faculty, staff and operations of
the Florida Colleges. Positions are being developed and amended as public
hearings gather input from concerned individuals and groups.
Here we are - the cycle has begun again. Stay tuned.
