The Senate may be headed toward another floor showdown, this time over funding cuts for the University of South Florida.
USF President Judy Genshaft and Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, emerged from a face-to-face talk Monday saying they still had more work to do over the budget committee chairmans proposal to cut approximately $78 million for the school he hopes to split in two.
Meanwhile, with a deadline of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to file amendments to the budget, Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, who is a self-professed champion of his local university, intends to file to increase the funding for USF, which initially faced a $103 million cut.
Im going to do everything possible to have that university on the same footing as all the other universities in the state of Florida, Norman said.
The Senates proposed university cuts come with Florida State University faced with a $19.3 million reduction and the University of Florida's decrease at $33 million.
Norman added that he has been working the phones with other senators this weekend seeking to avert having the issue brought to the floor, where he noted it could come down to another 21-19 vote, as did the highly controversial prison privatization vote a week ago.
I did everything I could to try to resolve the numbers and if it didnt work out my last resort is to take it to the floor, Norman said. I cannot, will not, vote for the budget with this disproportionate share of USF being unfairly taken from them. This has put me in a very bad spot, but I will be voting for my community first and I imagine there will be a lot of Bay-area senators who will be voting the same way.
Genshaft came to the Capitol on Monday trying to get Alexander to reverse a large chunk of his decision to slash the Tampa schools proposed funding.
Both Genshaft and Alexander, appearing before reporters after their hour-long closed-door session, made positive comments that the budget cut could be reduced. But both added that more work is needed, and neither gave specifics on numbers being considered.
We both agree we need to come back and do some additional figuring, Genshaft said. That's what we had aimed to do in our conversation, to share each others points of view and come out with some agreements that would satisfy us both.
Alexander said the talks helped clear up some of the differences the two had on the full separation of the Polytechnic campus from USF and their individual budget hurdles.
At this point, Im not comfortable going into great detail, but if there is a separation, we need to make sure we provide for the commitments that have been made to the individual students who are currently enrolled with USF Poly so the commitments are not breached and they are honored, Alexander said.
Genshaft hadnt had a direct talk with Alexander since November, when she appeared before the Board of Governors to state her objection to the branch campus being spun off.
The board set a series of benchmarks in order to advance the move to USF Polytechnics independence.
Norman wants to reduce Alexanders figure by $33 million, with $18 million designated for the USF Polytechnic faculty and $6 million for the pharmacy school if the Lakeland branch campus splits off into the state's 12th university.
The House budget proposal would cut the schools funding by 9 percent, which means any future funding numbers are most likely headed to conference negotiations between the House budget leaders.
Overall, the Senate has proposed approximately $400 million in cuts to the universities, while the House budget reductions for the universities total about $250 million.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
