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THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, April 6, 2017 ………. As the House and Senate prepare to take up their budget plans next week, state college leaders and students said Thursday the proposals contain unsustainable cuts for the 28-college system.
The Senate budget includes a $55 million reduction in remedial education funding and suspends $30 million in performance funding for the colleges. The House cuts $9.9 million, representing money the colleges now use to pay for personnel in their foundations, and imposes a one-time, $63 million reduction to the colleges’ reserve funds.
“We cannot sustain any of those cuts,” said Cynthia Bioteau, president of the Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Bioteau and other college presidents and students said the cuts will hurt a system designed to provide a higher-education opportunity to “non-traditional” students, including many minority students, older students and veterans.
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