The Florida Board of Governors plans to take a harder look at whether schools are earning their bonuses.
Florida offers its public universities a choice: improve areas such as graduation rates and job placement or lose funding. And the State University System’s Board of Governors wants to ensure the schools are providing accurate information before funding decisions are made.
“Clearly the state wants to make the investments in our universities,” Alan Levine says. We have to make sure, from a credibility standpoint, that that data is valid and that we are properly rewarding schools for the great work that they are doing and not providing incentives that are improper.”
Levine is chair of the Board of Governor’s Audit and Compliance Committee. Florida’s twelve public universities are eligible for extra money under the state’s “performance funding system.” The public colleges are seeking a similar boost. The state divvies up 100 million dollars among the universities based on a ranking system. But universities want more performance funding this year.