Ron DeSantis speaking at an event. The | AP Photo / Lynne Sladky
TALLAHASSEE – The “essential” pieces of a $ 29.4 million educational program vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis will survive and be transferred from the University of West Florida.
The emergency bailout, which bypasses Florida law and suggests that state officials were unprepared for the consequences of the veto, was announced by the State University Board of Governors of the System and the UWF just hours before the cuts They will take place at midnight on Tuesday.
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The entire Florida Plus program in its current form will be dismantled. Programs deemed essential will be recreated under a new name, allowing the state to circumvent a law that puts the UWF in charge of the program and another that restricts spending on banned programs.
Without action, the governor’s veto would have shut off critical services, such as online library resources used by K-12 students, colleges, and universities across Florida as the state continues to fight economic and economic crises. health triggered by an increase in Covid-19 infections.
Complete Florida, for now, will stay afloat with reserve funds – the same pool of money that state auditors said the UWF had misused the resources of the state library, and which eventually led to the Department of Education and the governor’s office to seek a change in leadership.
“We are confident that the new administration will improve oversight and decision-making processes,” the BOG said in a written statement issued Tuesday night.
UWF and the Governor’s Office signed the transition, noting that online education services will be the financial priority.
DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Aguirre Ferré said “the remaining funds” will allow the program to continue operating until the transition.
The board will work with UWF and the Florida Department of Education, the agency that oversees the Florida University System, to move Florida’s “essential” comprehensive programs out of UWF’s control. The board did not specify which services are considered essential and said more details will be provided in the coming months. It is not known where the programs will be hosted.
Programs like the $ 3 million initiative that helps former college students return to school to complete their degree are at risk of being cut.
The transition plan sends Florida into shady legal territory.
State law prohibits the governor, chief justice of the state Supreme Court, and state agencies from authorizing expenditures for programs that were part of a vetoed appropriation.
And the full Florida transfer out of UWF would conflict with a law that puts the university in charge of that program and the Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative, which provides online access to 17 million books to 1.3 million students, teachers and staff.
Complete Florida will survive on $ 9.8 million in carryover accounts, the equivalent of about a third of its budget, according to UWF records. State auditors in March said the UWF should pay Florida $ 2.4 million in cash that the university incorrectly withdrew from the program’s accounts, which could provide additional dollars.
System Chancellor Marshall State University Criser on Wednesday asked the UWF to refrain from spending transferred dollars without first consulting with system officials.
In that way, the system “can ensure that the transferred funds are spent on services that are identified as essential in the future and that it provides an accounting of the funds that are currently taxed,” Criser wrote in a letter to UWF leaders. .
As university officials rush to reconfigure the program, some 150 employees in Tallahassee, Gainesville and Pensacola are in limbo. Program staff had not received termination notices until Wednesday, according to UWF officials.
Gary Fineout contributed to this report.
