Dive Summary:
- In a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, the Florida Board of Education's vice chairman, Roberto Martinez, said that asking colleges to offer a $10,000 bachelor's degree without adequately increasing state funding would negatively impact education quality.
- State universities suffered a $300 million budget cut this year, and state support for higher education has decreased significantly over the last 5 years as Scott and other lawmakers made deep budget cuts in response to the economic downturn.
- Though budget cuts to higher education are a national trend, data shows Florida's cuts to be higher than the national average and state financial support per student dropped 22.9% between 2006 and 2011, compared to a national decline of 12.5%.
From the article:
Gov. Rick Scott's call for state colleges to offer a cheaper four-year degree follows years of steep budget cuts to Florida's higher education system, leading one top state education official to say the goal cannot be achieved without sacrificing education quality. ...