It took two special sessions to get the job done, but the
Florida Legislature finally approved the school code rewrite
legislation last month providing the broad powers that had
been promised to individual boards of trustees at each of
the state's 11 universities.
UNF President Anne Hopkins said she was delighted that the
legislature approved the school code rewrite bill and that
the governor has announced his intention to sign it. "This
legislation will provide considerably more flexibility to
UNF, as well as significant additional responsibility for
our board of trustees and for the campus," she said.
The changes affecting UNF and other state universities were
incorporated in the nearly 1,800-page revision of the state's
school code. It encompasses a broad range of law governing
public schools, community colleges and state universities.
It is the first comprehensive overhaul of the state's education
code in over 60 years.
The most significant modification is changing the universities'
status from state agencies to individual public corporations.
This change was needed for the universities to move to the
community college and K-12 model of governance in which local
boards set policy and govern their institutions and districts.
With the new powers approved by the Legislature, UNF's board
has significantly more fiscal and policy flexibility. Examples
of this new fiscal flexibility include: •Authority for
institutions to retain and deposit tuition, fees and other
funds in local interest-bearing accounts (outside the State
Treasury), •Elimination of the previous restrictions
on the amount of funds which could be carried forward to the
next budget year, •Receipt of legislative appropriations
in more of a "lump sum" with authority granted to the university
boards to spend their funds in accordance with their individual
operating budgets.
Effective Jan. 3, the UNF Board of Trustees will become the
public employer for university personnel, with authority to
establish personnel programs, set salaries and pay classifications
and to collectively bargain with its own employees. State
university employees will continue to participate in the state
health and retirement systems, and in future years, may also
potentially participate with employees of community colleges
and school boards in other benefit programs.
For fiscal year 2002-03, the responsibility for setting tuition
and fees will remain primarily with the Legislature, with
increased authority for the university boards to increase
tuition within the approved range. An advisory council on
higher education funding appointed by Education Secretary
Jim Horne is scheduled to make recommendations to the Florida
Board of Education by late summer for changes in Florida's
tuition and fee structure.
For the UNF trustees, new powers bring new responsibilities.
UNF will be responsible for handling such things as its own
payroll, benefit administration and other human resource services
as well as business functions. The Legislature authorized
universities to acquire and maintain their own fully integrated
financial management system. A University committee is currently
working on the transition of these functions.
Hopkins assured University employees that there would be
no disruption in the services or benefits for faculty and
staff as the transition continues. UNF has joined with Florida
State University, the University of Florida and the University
of West Florida to form a consortium examining ways the institutions
can cooperate in offering services that were previously offered
through state offices.
For more information on those arrangements contact Scott
Bennett at 620-2556.
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