Who are your Florida senators and how can you contact them? DACIA JOHNSON/TCPALM Wochit
An extensive bill that would overhaul Florida’s state college system passed another committee this week on its way to the Senate floor.
Senate Bill 540 would create a State Board of Community Colleges to oversee all 28 schools in the state college system. The colleges are currently under the State Board of Education, which also oversees the K-12 system.
Indian River State College officials say they are monitoring the legislation. Unlike several other state colleges, including nearby Palm Beach State College, IRSC officials have yet to publicly oppose the bill.
A similar House version of the bill has not been heard yet in any House committees.
Seeking change
The “Community College Competitiveness Act of 2018" was filed by state Sen. Dorothy Hukill, the Senate Education chairwoman and a Republican who represents Volusia and Brevard counties.
Hukill said the goal of the bill is to boost graduation rates at state colleges. Currently, 43 percent of students exit the colleges without any kind of credential, whether that be an associate degree or a certificate. Hukill said that number is far too high.
"The whole idea is to prepare them for the workforce, or prepare them for a four-year degree," Hukill said.
She blamed a lack of advisers at the colleges. The bill lays out a pathway program students would be required to enroll in before they enter a degree program.
Hukill said the program would help students:
- Continue their education on time
- Reduce their debt
- Ensure they don't take classes that won't transfer to a university.
"We’re trying to help them to not just wander aimlessly through college," Hukill said.
Lenore Rodicio, a provost at Miami Dade College, expressed concerns about the bill's performance standards in a committee meeting this week.
Rodicio said the majority of students at Miami-Dade College are part-time students. She said it's unfair to base the school's performance funding on a "small component of the college's overall population.
“We serve a unique population of students who otherwise would not step foot in a college classroom were it not for the Florida college system,” Rodicio said.
Enrollment caps
Another aspect of the bill state colleges have expressed concerns about is enrollment caps. Each school would be required to limit its enrollment of four-year degree students to no more than 20 percent of the school’s entire enrollment under the bill, while the statewide system would have a 10 percent enrollment cap.
Hukill said concerns about enrollment caps are unwarranted because there’s still plenty of room for state colleges to grow their baccalaureate degree programs.
About 11 percent of IRSC students are currently enrolled in baccalaureate programs full-time, according to data from the college. That percentage is the third-highest in the state, coming after Polk State College and St. Petersburg College.
State Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, suggested in the meeting potentially easing the cap on four-year degrees. He recommended the bill be amended to exempt any new baccalaureate programs that were created to meet local economic needs, or if local universities weren't opposed to the programs.
IRSC baccalaureate courses are based on local workforce demands, officials said. They include biology, nursing, criminal justice and business administration.
More: Martin County dignitaries experience poverty in simulation at IRSC
Former efforts
Hukill's bill has spun off from a massive higher education plan pushed by the Senate last year.
A bill pushed by Senate leadership, including President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, would have imposed a 15 percent enrollment cap on student's seeking baccalaureate degrees in the state college system.
IRSC President Ed Massey and other officials from the college lobbied against the bill.
While it passed the Senate and House, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed the bill, saying it would "impede progress at state colleges."
Negron's higher ed plan
The bill is part of a wide-ranging higher education plan Negron has backed for years.
Negron and several other senators believe state colleges are straying from their core mission of providing associate degrees and vocational education.
In multiple interviews with TCPalm, Negron has noted state colleges such as IRSC don't have the same kinds of resources as colleges in the state university system.
Negron has argued Treasure Coast students seeking a bachelor's degree can easily choose to enroll in classes at Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus. According to course catalogs from the university, however, many courses offered at the Jupiter campus are part of the university's honors college.
For the average student, they'd need to drive to Boca Raton to complete a bachelor's degree. IRSC's main campus in Fort Pierce is nearly 90 miles from FAU's main campus.
Treasure Coast Newspapers politics reporter Ali Schmitz is in Tallahassee covering the 2018 legislative session. Follow her coverage, comment on her stories and tell her what issues interest you most at ali.schmitz@tcpalm.com, @schmitzmedia on Facebook and @schmitzmedia on Twitter.