“I think the House’s position is going to be very clear, that the amount of money we’ve put into the system, the system has almost run wild,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo’s comments put the House on a collision course with the Senate, where Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, is pushing an ambitious plan to bolster the higher-education system, including the expansion of Bright Futures scholarships. Other portions of the Senate initiative anticipate funding boosts for programs to attract top-quality faculty and to reward high-performing medical, law and business schools.
Most of the House committee’s focus was on university foundations, including the transfer of state funding to the foundations. Foundation representatives testified the state funding was used to support personnel who help with fund-raising and other activities.
But Trujillo and other lawmakers questioned whether the foundations had the legal authority to transfer the state dollars.
“Clearly we’ve got an issue we need to deal with,” said Rep. David Richardson, a Miami Beach Democrat who is an accountant.
