A Leon County judge upheld the Legislatures ability to set tuition for the states 11 public universities, knocking down a challenge from former Gov. Bob Graham who thought the Board of Governors should control university costs.
Judge Charles Francis wrote that the Constitution explicitly gives the Legislature the authority to set tuition for the public university system because the universities are funded by a combination of general revenue, tuition and fees.
Accordingly, decisions about the amount of general revenue to appropriate for the universities necessarily involves deciding the relative proportion of public university funding that will come from general revenue, tuition and fees which, in turn, requires specification of the level of tuition and fees that will be complemented by funding sources, wrote Francis. The appropriation of general revenue to support university operations is thus inevitably intertwined with tuition and fee levels. Accordingly, the Legislature has constitutional authority to condition appropriations of general revenues on the requirement that universities accept the tuition and fee levels on which the general revenue appropriation is based according to law.
Shortly after the case was filed in 2007, the university systems Board of Governors joined the suit, creating a schism between the Legislature and the university system. The Legislature, angry that the board was suing it, gave little notice to any university initiatives that needed approval and maintained a frosty relationship at best with leaders of the system.
In 2009, when the University of North Florida president, John Delaney, temporarily took the lead over the system, board members and Board of Governors' staff began examining a way to withdraw from the lawsuit and improve relations with lawmakers, and when Frank Brogan was appointed chancellor he named it one of his top priorities.
The board withdrew from the suit this past March and in turn the Legislature delivered a legislative package that clearly delineated the Legislatures and boards roles in running the university system.
The Board of Governors is not a party to the lawsuit and therefore has no comment on the courts decision, said Board of Governors spokeswoman Kelly Layman. However, in the 2010 session, Board of Governors Chair Ava Parker and Chancellor Frank Brogan worked extremely closely with the Legislature to develop a signed agreement adding clarifications to constitutional duties and shared responsibilities in Florida law, a partnership that already has proven very successful in practice.
Aides to Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon could not immediately comment on the ruling.
Grahams attorney Robin Gibson could not be immediately reached but told the Associated Press that he would appeal the case to the 1st District Court of Appeal. Another plaintiff in the case, former Florida State president Sandy DAlemberte, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told the News Service in March that he joined the lawsuit simply because he wanted the confusion over tuition to be settled.
