If students at the University of Florida notice an uptick in the number of night and online courses, blame the veto of millions of dollars in classroom construction projects by Gov. Rick Scott.
When Scott vetoed nearly $80 million for classroom construction at Floridas universities in May, he left university officials wondering about the future of a state program designed to be the primary source of funding for classroom construction at universities and colleges. Lobbying for new construction projects is one of the most political aspects of the states budget, with millions of dollars at stake for universities and colleges.
But in recent years, universities have struggled to gain approval for some of their high-priority projects, either because of a governors veto pen and a failure to present a persuasive argument to state lawmakers, or the lack of total PECO funds available to them. Universities must split colleges and K-12 school money for construction each year.
Scott has defended his decision to veto these projects, some of which were aimed at classroom maintenance, renovation and construction, as a product of his concern for the state taking on too much debt.
University officials say it is difficult to pay for classroom construction without money from what is known as the Public Education Capital Outlay fund or PECO. This fund is supplied by a tax on utilities. Those dollars are then used to finance bonds to pay for construction and the Legislature approves in the budget which projects to pay for.
But as the state works to pay down its bond debt and money used to fund PECO has fluctuated, it has left fewer dollars to pay for these projects and raised the possibility of the state taking on too much debt.
The crisis of classroom construction was spotlighted at a State University System meeting in Tampa on Wednesday. Chancellor Frank Brogan opened the meeting with a simple plea: PECO is in trouble, ladies and gentleman, Brogan told the Board of Governors and a roomful of university presidents and lobbyists.
After the meeting, he said he understands the governors position. You can only rack up so much debt as a state, even for good things, Brogan said. Most people recognize now that we have a general problem with what has been a longstanding funding source for infrastructure. Weve got to find a new way to do this.
But the options that universities face to pay for classroom buildings are slim. Universities could use foundation money, but that is difficult because those dollars are often earmarked for certain programs and only the largest universities, such as the University of Florida, have foundations large enough to pay for construction.
But even in a big foundation there is very little liquid or discretionary money you can use for things like construction, Brogan said. There are also research grants that can be used for some construction projects. Youve got to be taking in some mighty big federal grants in order to fund that, Brogan said.
Another option includes looking at public-private partnerships, similar to the way Florida Atlantic University reached a financial agreement with a private developer that allowed them to tap a line of credit to build a new football stadium. The same could be done to build new classroom buildings.
It is the smaller and mid-sized universities that suffer the most from the lack of PECO funds because they face greater pressures to expand and add new classroom buildings, said University of Florida President Bernie Machen.
What are we going to do if there is no PECO money? Machen said. It is going to be a huge problem. Its going to be a big problem for the new schools. They are growing a lot more facilities than we are.
Wilson Bradshaw, the president of Florida Gulf Coast University, said the school is postponing construction of a new classroom and laboratory. Scott vetoed $4.5 million for that project. We will have to forgo that project, postpone it and push it back, Bradshaw said. He pressed for the need to have buildings that will allow us to increase the size of critical programs and accommodate enrollment.
The University of Central Florida, which lost $21.3 million due to Scotts vetoes, more than any other university, has put a number of construction projects on hold. We lost some renovation money for some of our older facilities that really need it, said UCF President John Hitt. We lost money for a classroom building which we very badly needed those will just have to be on hold until we can get funding for them.
Students will have to take classes at inconvenient hours as a way to cope, Hitt said.
Another way UCF has coped with the lack of classroom construction money is pushing more students into online courses that dont rely on a physical classroom. If there is not a class available during the day in a place in a classroom, they can get into a distance learning section, Hitt said.
University presidents said they are not willing to let the state off the hook on paying for construction projects, and are reluctant to consider other financing choices because they fear state dollars might forever disappear.
The first strategy is, we have got to not give up on the state, Machen said.
Brogan said with enrollment increasing an average of 3 percent each year, the pressure to build new classroom space only grows.It is a serious problem, Brogan said, because the amount of PECO money available next year will be similar or even worse than this year. The math doesnt work, Brogan said. We have got to use this time to see if we can find a new way to fund the infrastructure needs of the state university system.
Brogan said the Legislature, governor and state universities need to work to figure out an alternative solution. The system just cant go on hold while we are trying to figure this one out, Brogan said. That is the only funding source that is dedicated to construction of academic programs and it is in trouble.
