Florida Education Association President Andy Ford said today that he was glad that Gov. Charlie Crist finally has acknowledged that the state’s universities and community college need an infusion of funding to continue to offer a high quality education to tens of thousands of students.
But Ford said he thought the proposal for tuition increases and reducing the amount of coverage in some cases offered by the Bright Futures scholarship program represented an unacceptable financial burden to many struggling Floridians.
“The governor was correct that higher education in Florida is in danger of losing some of its top minds in the university system and will continue to struggle to attract qualified faculty members,” Ford said. “But placing the responsibility for increased funding solely on the backs of students and their parents isn’t fair.”
Ford said he shared the concerns of Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee, who said Thursday that the governor’s proposal would put higher education even further out of reach for Floridians at a time when the state ranks among the highest in the nation for job loss, home foreclosures and bankruptcies.
Ford repeated his call for a short-term increase in the state’s sales tax, dedicated to all levels of public schools. The FEA proposal would increase the state sales tax by a penny for three years, which would raise more than $3.5 billion a year for public education. This would offset budget cuts that have slashed the state’s support for public education from kindergarten through college. It would also buy time for political leaders to improve the state’s tax structure so that there isn’t a funding crisis every time there’s an economic downturn.
“Students in school shouldn’t suffer because of an economic downturn,” Ford said. “Florida’s children are this state’s future and we should make sure they can continue receiving a high-quality education.”
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