Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed a $74.1 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 and vetoed $368 million in projects.
Scott vetoed 3 percent tuition increases for universities and state colleges and also rejected numerous spending proposals, including $14 million sought by Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, for a project at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City.
In a budget message, Scott touted that the spending plan includes $480 million to raise teacher pay.
Throughout the 2013 legislative session, we've been posing questions to Tallahassee lawmakers that were raised at a WLRN-Miami Herald News Town Hall last February.
Among the topics is the rising cost of higher education in Florida.
Governor Rick Scott was at Miami-Dade College's North campus today to announce that eleven more state colleges have accepted his challenge to create bachelor’s degree programs costing $10,000 or less.
That means all 23 Florida state colleges offering four-year degrees have signed on.
Broward College is developing a bachelor's degree program in teacher education and business. President David Armstrong told the News Service of Florida that the goal is to open doors for more students.
Another relief bill is being offered by a Miami-Dade legislator for Florida residents who have been denied in-state college tuition rates because of their parents' immigration status.
Wendy Pedroso did well in math classes -- until her first algebra course. Twice as many students at Florida colleges took a remedial math course than took a remedial writing or reading course.
The series on remedial education at Florida’s colleges by NPR’s StateImpact Florida and the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting has prompted lots of conversations: Why are so many high school graduates needing remediation in college? Should a high school diploma be a certificate of college readiness -- perhaps only for some students.
We chatted online with StateImpact’s Sarah Gonzalez and FCIR’s Mc Nelly Torres along with a social media audience of students, educators and people interested in education policy.
Credit Sagette Van Embden / Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Wendy Pedroso did well in math classes -- until her first algebra course. Twice as many students at Florida colleges took a remedial math course than took a remedial writing or reading course.
Wendy Pedroso has never liked math, but for most of elementary school and middle school she got B’s in the subject. It wasn’t until ninth grade at Miami Southwest Senior High School, when Pedroso took algebra, that she hit a wall. In particular, she struggled with understanding fractions.
“I kept getting stuck in the same place,” Pedroso, 20, recalled recently. She failed the class, and worried that she’d never get to go to college. Pedroso sought help from tutors, took algebra again over the summer and passed. She went on to graduate from high school in 2011.
The average student loan debt for new graduates last year was more than $26 thousand.
A leading Florida educator compiled data showing most students end up owing less than $20 thousand for a degree that will give them greater earning power.
“People with college degrees make more money than people without college degrees in their lifetime,” Dr. Ed Moore says. “People with college degrees are more likely in this kind of economy to be employed.”
