In a major ruling offering a definitive settlement to a long-standing constitutional question, the Florida Supreme Court announced Thursday that it has ruled unanimously in favor of the Legislature, not the state university systems Board of Governors (BOG), as the body established to set tuition policy.
[W]e hold that the constitutional source of the Legislatures authority to set and appropriate for the expenditure of tuition and fees derives from its power to raise revenue and appropriate for the expenditure of state funds, Justice Barbara Pariente wrote on behalf of the seven justices of the high court. Nothing within the language of article IX, section 7, of the Florida Constitution indicates an intent to transfer this quintessentially legislative power to the Board of Governors.
Pariente referred to the following provision of the state Constitution, enacted by voters through a 2002 referendum:
"The board [of governors] shall operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system. These responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, defining the distinctive mission of each constituent university and its articulation with free public schools and community colleges, ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the system, and avoiding wasteful duplication of facilities or programs. The boards management shall be subject to the powers of the Legislature to appropriate for the expenditure of funds, and the board shall account for such expenditures as provided by law."
Former U.S. senator and Florida governor Bob Graham, former American Bar Association and Florida State University president Sandy D'Alemberte, and other high-profile state academics had argued that this provision gave the BOG plenary authority over the state university system, including the raising and spending of tuition dollars. Attorneys for the Legislature countered that the amendment did not more than give the BOG direct responsibilities of an administrative nature, which did not include the raising or expenditure of any state revenues, except as allowed by the Legislature.
Pariente began her analysis by acknowledging that the actual language of the relevant constitutional provisions is not clear or unambiguous and does not expressly address the matter in issue. Therefore, she turned to traditional principles of interpreting law, in order to discern the original intent of the framers and voters.
The first of these principles was the doctrine of ejusdem generis (of the same kind), under which when a general phrase follows a list of specifics, the general phrase will be interpreted to include only items of the same type as those listed. Under this principle, Pariente opined that the setting and expenditure of tuition prices was of a wholly different nature than the other executive and administrative duties assigned to the BOG in the Constitution.
Next, Pariente looked at the ballot title and summary that had been before Floridians when they cast their votes in 2002; she found nothing in them that implied the BOG would have authority to set or expend tuition fees.
Finally, she referred to her courts own 2002 judgment approving the ballot language, which explicitly said the establishment of the BOG would not substantially alter . . . or perform . . . the functions of multiple branches of government, nor would it substantially affect or change article IX, section 1, of the Florida Constitution, which charges the Legislature with making adequate provision for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of Floridas public universities.
Pariente also rejected the plaintiffs appeal to public university governance in states like California, Michigan, and Minnesota, finding that [t]he constitutional systems of university governance in [those states] are clearly different than that in Florida.
Neither Graham, nor House Speaker Will Weatherford, nor Senate President Don Gaetz was available for comment before this story went to press.
The Senate president is traveling in his district today, Gaetz spokeswoman Katie Betta told Sunshine State News. We have just received the ruling and are reviewing it.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews or at (954) 235-9116.
