King appeared to have some trouble understanding a question he received about the PBF issue from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. A questionnaire from the newspaper asked him whether he supports PBF. King responded: “It is difficult to provide a response to this question without further information on what performance metrics would be used in allocation decisions.”
The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) has been using PBF metrics since 2014-2015. Information about the metrics is posted on the BOG website.
Q: “Do you support or oppose the allocation of performance-based funding for state universities to equip them for pre-eminence?”
A: “It is difficult to provide a response to this question without further information on what performance metrics would be used in allocation decisions. Obviously, having Florida’s public universities be the pre-eminent universities in the nation is a goal to which we should strive, but we cannot allow any single institution to receive such a disproportionate share of the funding so that it takes away from the many other public universities that serve the overwhelming majority of our population. The danger of this policy is that it deprives universities who traditionally educate underprivileged and underserved students and communities of the resources they need to provide opportunities to and elevate their students.”
FAMU was denied new state investment PBF funds in 2015-2016, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 under the current model. It has the highest percentage of students with Pell Grants out of all the public universities in Florida.
Q: “Do you support or oppose tighter state limits on tuition at state colleges and universities?”
A: “As I mentioned previously, I am the only candidate that has proposed (and has a plan to pay for) free community college and trade school for all Floridians. It is a true tragedy that we have so many qualified students who cannot afford to enroll or stay in college because tuition costs have become prohibitive. To this end, we must ensure that proper funding is allocated to be used or financial aid. In addition, we must make sure that those students and families who are fortunate enough to pay the full cost of tuition do so. Tuition must be controlled to ensure access to all of our state’s qualified students.”