Budget compromise puts brakes on proposed engineering college split

The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering appears to be safe for at least another fiscal year.

On Sunday, Senate budget negotiators backed down from a proposed plan to split the 30 year old school. They agreed to provide $150,000 for the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) to study the idea, first.

State Sen. John E. Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, led the charge to provide Florida State University with money for a stand-alone College of Engineering. He called for FSU to receive $3M in new operating dollars and $10M to begin constructing a new engineering building on the university’s main campus.

According to the Miami Herald: “As part of the compromise, the $3 million in FSU operating dollars for the engineering split has been deleted from the budget. Thrasher said the $10 million in Public Education Capital Outlay funds will no longer be earmarked for a new engineering school on FSU's campus but may be re-directed to other projects at the university. The PECO list will be made public Monday.”

FAMU President Elmira Mangum said she welcomed the compromise plan.

“It is a good first step, as it would allow all of the stakeholders to come to the table and be involved in the process,” Mangum said in a quote published by the Tallahassee Democrat. “Our hope is that the study would thoroughly evaluate the joint program, based on the mission for which it was created, and assess the value that it adds to the Tallahassee community.”

Senate Democratic Leader and FAMU alumna Arthenia Joyner, who fought vigorously to make sure that FAMU was treated fairly this session, also expressed her approval.

“I would hope that we will have a fair, objective feasibility study,” she told the Tallahassee Democrat. “I’m going to follow the issue to see who’s selected to do the study, to make sure that it’s fair. This is going to impact the lives of many people. All of us, the FAMU alumni, have to follow the process and make sure it’s done right.”

Late last week, House Speaker Will Weatherford said he was not “in a rush” to split the engineering college and wanted the BOG to weigh in on the issue. He and his budget negotiators have refused to offer the Senate any money for a stand-alone FSU College of Engineering.