Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Three Coaches And A Governor Walk Onto A Stage…

May 28, 2016

It’s not often that Jim McElwain, Jimbo Fisher and Mark Richt share the stage during one of the most significant policy events in Florida on a given week.

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/floridaweeklly.jpgBut on Thursday, that’s exactly what the football coaches of the University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of Miami did, showing up at Gov. Rick Scott’s “Degrees to Jobs Summit” in Orlando, speaking on leadership as the national championship trophy for the coming college football season stood between the governor and the trio.

Things got even more unusual this week when it came to the state’s delegation to Washington, D.C., with some Republicans openly imploring a sitting U.S. senator to sit awhile longer. Meanwhile, the state’s public education system was allowed to maintain the status quo, at least for now.

SCOTT: TWO LESS YEARS

Scott’s higher-education summit had a little bit of everything, from the panel with the football coaches to a discussion of middle-class wages going the way of the buffalo.

However, there was at least one somewhat concrete proposal to emerge from the gathering: Scott wants colleges and universities to encourage full-time students to graduate in four years.

Just 44 percent of undergraduates at state universities graduate within four years, according to the Florida Board of Governors, with a total of 71 percent earning a four-year degree within six years.

And since undergraduates spend roughly $17,000 per year on tuition, fees, books and living expenses, those finishing in four years will avoid the added cost, Scott said. They’ll also bring in salaries for those two years, rather than paying out money to attend classes.

Additionally, the governor called for the expansion of Bright Futures scholarships to cover the summer semester and urged the elimination of fees for online courses.

Using a little bit of creative math — combining the extra tuition over two years with the amount of salary the students would earn if they were in the workforce instead — Scott came up with a six-figure savings estimate for graduates who wrapped up college in what used to be the standard timeframe.

“Finish in four, save more,” Scott told business and education leaders at the event. “You could save $100,000 by getting out in four years rather than six years.”

Scott also used the conference to promote his higher education agenda the way he has in the past: by tying it to his focus on the state’s economy. He did, however, manage to stay away from taking digs at anthropology.

“If our students are the best-educated in the country — in the world — the companies are going to be here,” Scott said. “This is about building a workforce.”

‘A TOP PRIORITY’

While Scott was preparing in Orlando to discuss ways to overhaul higher education, a Leon County judge was passing on an opportunity to upend the way elementary and secondary schools are funded in the state. But the battle looks to be far from over.

Seven years after the case was filed, Circuit Judge George Reynolds on Tuesday rejected a wide-ranging challenge to the state’s public education system. While Reynolds raised concerns about the outcome for some students in Florida, he ruled that lawmakers had met their constitutional obligation to provide a free, high-quality public education.

“The weight of the evidence shows that the state has made education a top priority both in terms of implementation of research-based education policies and reforms, as well as education funding,” Reynolds wrote in the decision.

Backers of the lawsuit vowed to appeal, potentially setting up a landmark ruling by the Florida Supreme Court.

“We’re in this as long as children continue to be harmed by Florida’s school reform policies,” said Kathleen Oropeza, co-founder of the advocacy group Fund Education Now. “And we’ve always known, regardless of the outcome, there would be an appeal.”

The lawsuit is rooted in a 1998 constitutional amendment that says it is a “paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.” The amendment fleshed that out, in part, by saying adequate provision will be made for a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system” of public schools.

Republican lawmakers were quick to applaud Reynolds’ decision as an endorsement of their polices, including 15 years of education-reform efforts and initiatives that expanded school choice programs. While Reynolds had already curtailed challenges to the state’s system of charter schools and private-school scholarships funded by tax credits, he also found that those programs had not hurt public education.

“Florida’s education policies have resulted in all-time high graduation rates, an overall increase in student achievement, and our low-income and minority students closing the ‘achievement gap’ at a rate faster than the rest of the nation,” said House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island. “Today’s order ensures our children will continue to receive the high quality education they deserve.”

Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, specifically underscored the parts of Reynolds’ ruling that dealt with school choice programs and used the ruling to take a veiled shot at the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. The FEA has filed a separate challenge to the voucher-like scholarship program.

“I am hopeful that today’s ruling will cause other groups to re-evaluate their attempts to deprive tens of thousands of students with unique abilities and students from low-income families of the educational opportunities their parents have selected,” Gardiner said.

The FEA said it would do no such thing.

RUBIO AGAIN?

The 2016 election, as just about anyone who even casually follows politics can tell you, is one of the most unusual campaigns in decades. And rumors started to emerge of another twist this week that could upend the headline non-presidential race in Florida: an effort by some Republicans to get U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio to run for re-election.

During his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio repeatedly and emphatically ruled out running for a second term in the Senate if voters rejected his attempt at the White House. And he tried again this week to quell talk that he would get into the Senate race and elbow out the five major Republican candidates currently running for the seat.

One of those candidates, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, is a personal friend of Rubio, as the incumbent pointed out.

“I think he’s a great candidate,” Rubio said. “I think he’ll make a great senator.”

But Rubio didn’t completely and irrevocably shut the door on the possibility of running again, particularly if Lopez-Cantera, who like his fellow GOP candidates has struggled to gain much traction, was forced to drop out of the race.

Republican candidates started getting questions about whether they would or wouldn’t clear the field if Rubio got in, and Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy issued a statement saying “this race won’t be about” Rubio regardless of the decision. But Murphy, who faces a Senate primary against fellow Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson, indicated he was preparing for the possibility.

“For years Floridians have been disappointed by Marco Rubio’s complete disinterest in the job they elected him to do,” Murphy said. “Floridians know his record of missing votes, flip-flopping on immigration reform, and fighting against women’s health care.”

Adding fuel to the story, even one of Rubio’s harshest president primary nemeses — presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump — joined the “Draft Rubio” movement on Twitter.

“Poll data shows that @marcorubio does by far the best in holding onto his Senate seat in Florida. Important to keep the MAJORITY. Run Marco!” Trump tweeted.

STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott held his “Degrees to Jobs Summit” in Orlando and unveiled a plan to encourage Florida university students to get their undergraduate degrees within four years.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If he tramples self-defense rights as a legislator, it is frightening to imagine how he will trample constitutional rights as a judge. He has to be stopped!!”—Marion Hammer, a past president of the National Rifle Association and executive director of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, in a letter opposing state Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, for a judicial position. McBurney, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, angered Second Amendment groups this year when his committee did not move forward with a bill related to the “stand your ground” self-defense law.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News