Chris Jones: Greene Publishing, Inc.

On Wednesday, June 14, Governor Rick Scott vetoed a higher education bill that would have fully funded Florida's Bright Futures scholarships, covering 100 percent of tuition to Florida colleges and universities for the State's top-performing high school students. Lawmakers accused Scott of breaking a promise to support the measure, which according to Scott, would have made positive changes to the State's universities, but at the expense of its community colleges.

Senate President Joe Negron, who championed the bill all the way to the Governor's desk, disagreed with that assessment, saying, “I fundamentally disagree that SB 374 makes positive changes to our universities at the expense of Florida’s community colleges. Like Governor Scott, many members of the Senate attended our state’s community colleges, and we recognize the vital role they play in our public education system.”

There was a section in the bill that would have capped the growth of bachelor degree programs at community colleges, which are now formally known as state colleges.

"This interference impedes the ability of state colleges to meet the needs of the communities and families they serve," Scott wrote in his veto message.

In the same veto message, Scott noted that a temporary expansion of the Bright Futures scholarship will still happen this year. He elaborated, "I urge the Legislature to pass legislation that revisits these issues and expands Bright Futures Scholarships permanently while recognizing the importance of both our state colleges and universities in the 2018 Legislative Session."

Currently, the Bright Futures program covers roughly half of the tuition and fees at state universities for top-tier recipients. The new bill would have increased that amount to 100 percent of tuition, and even allotted some funds to be used for summer classes. Despite the veto, it appears that programs that expand financial aid — both merit-based and need-based — will go forward because they were embedded in the main 2017-18 budget act and not dependent on the bill to take effect.

"Bright Futures, faculty recruitment, all of those dollars — $600 plus million — was all tied to the budget," said Senator Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is the higher education budget chairman.