Frank Brogan seems to be banking on Rick Perry to win the GOP presidential nomination and is now pushing higher education reforms that will make the Texas governor happy. Brogan’s decision could be good for own political future, but is bad news for the State University System of Florida (SUS).
WCTV-6 reports that Brogan has met with Gov. Rick Scott to discuss implementing public university reforms that Perry supports. Perry’s plan for overhauling Texas’ state universities comes from the “Seven Solutions” proposal of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative think tank.
TPPF wants wants to change public university tenure systems to emphasize teaching over research. It calls for professors to be paid based upon the number of students they teach each semester.
Advocates of the University of Texas, Austin and Texas A&M University are afraid that the reforms will harm their national reputations and research programs.
There are also fears that TPPF’s proposed shakeup of the tenure requirements is nothing but a first step toward ultimately destroying the tenure system altogether. The Tea Party group FreedomWorks, led by Rick Perry supporter and former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, wants tenure eliminated. Armey thinks the “merit pay” reforms he and Perry used to destroy tenure in Texas' public K-12 schools should be adopted in state universities.
“Taxpayers should not be forced to write a blank check for tenured professors to do as they please,” Armey said in an opinion piece featured on the TPPF website. “Gov. Perry and I have both recommended free market reforms that would tie school funding to academic results. Gov. Perry has successfully enacted merit pay for K-12 public schooling; a similar system for higher education would likely boost the rankings of our colleges and universities nationwide.”
Gov. Scott signed tenure-killing “merit pay” legislation for Florida’s K-12 schools back in March.
Brogan appears to be falling in line with Perry and Scott.
“One of the things I said to the governor is much of what you saw in Texas was that it moved very quickly," Brogan to WCTV-6.” Here in Florida, we are starting the conversations on some of these very important issues and bringing the people in higher education to the table to have those conversations with us.”
It is tough to believe Brogan could seriously think that weakening tenure would make the SUS more competitive. Other state higher education systems are already laughing at Florida for making budget cuts that are driving many top research professors away.
Two years ago, then-University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles told a group of Florida business leaders who paid him a visit that: “my office is being flooded with resumes from your best scientists and researchers. We’re going to hire them away from your universities unless you get your act together in Florida.”
If tenure dies, FAMU will not be exempt from the painful effects. It could see many of its best research faculty in areas such as pharmacy, physics, agriculture, engineering, computer science, and environmental science pack their bags, too.
Brogan has lots to gain by pleasing Perry. He could become a prime candidate for an appointment as U.S. secretary of education and be placed in charge of making all states conform to Perry’s reform agenda.
But Brogan shouldn’t be counted out of the GOP “veepstakes,” either. The Republican Party needs Florida to win in 2012. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is considered a prime contender for the VP nod, but has some big problems. He might not be able to deliver Florida in a general election. Rubio won his Senate seat in a three way contest and probably would not have been the victor in a one-on-one race against then-Gov. Charlie Crist. His hard Right Wing position on immigration could actually make it harder for the GOP to rebuild support among Hispanic voters. This means Brogan could have a chance.
If Brogan were truly dedicated to looking out for the SUS, he would be lobbying for a special legislative session to override Scott’s Public Education Capital Outlay vetoes instead of doing everything he can to get Perry’s approval. The SUS chancellor’s office is not on the side of Florida’s public universities.