Scott: reforms needed

Gov. Rick Scott has begun to promote an overhaul of Florida's college system that could reconstruct the way in which UCF professors receive pay and recognition.

The reform would be similar to that of Texas' take on higher education, which includes replacing tenure with bonuses based on student ratings and class size.

During his recent visit with the Orlando Sentinel, Scott did not say which parts of the Texas plan he hopes to implement in Florida's system, but expressed a desire to "get the conversation going" on the matter.

Opinions of this proposal are wide and varied, but concerns for Florida colleges has been expressed by those that are familiar with the Lone Star State's way of doing things.

Tom Auxter, president of the United Faculty of Florida, said Scott has been trying to levy support for the movement by masking the reform as a "merit-based" payment plan for professors, a concept that Florida residents have become acquainted with since Scott's reconstruction of the public school system.

Auxter said that in Texas higher education, the only way to receive increased compensation is to give up tenure and "compete" for bonuses that are given to a maximum 25 percent of faculty and top out at $10,000.

"If you're a professor and your salary is $50,000, you better like that figure because that's going to be it for the rest of your life," Auxter said. "This is the opposite of merit pay. This is the destruction of merit pay."

Dr. Patrick Murphy, the UCF English department chair and former member of the teachers union, said that elimination of tenure would cause the university's best professors to flee the state in pursuit of career security.

"Some of the faculty that bring in the most grant money for the university are going to go elsewhere to retain tenure," Murphy said. "All the university presidents are going to fight against this kind of legislation. They know how disastrous this would be."

Murphy said that tenure allows professors more academic freedom in the way they instruct their students, as it is more difficult to punish tenured professors for lecturing on politically unpopular viewpoints.

"The removal of tenure has a chilling effect on people's pursuit of knowledge that is outside the mainstream," Murphy said.

Sen. David Simmons, who is on the budget subcommittee on higher education appropriations and a Republican representative for both Orange and Seminole counties, said that higher education reform in Florida is an issue worth debating.

"We have to look at the output and productivity of our professors as our present model exists," Simmons said. "I believe that there are factors that should be considered in compensation of professors rather than how long they've been at a university."

Simmons said that when instructors fail to put in extra effort to bring recognition to the university, it should be reflected in their paychecks.

"Certain professors at great universities need to publish works. Publish or perish," Simmons said.

Wes Jones, a junior who holds a senate seat in the College of Education, also believes that tenure should be considered with more scrutiny.

"I don't think anyone should be guaranteed any position," Jones said in reference to Florida professors. "If you do 10 years of good work, why should you be guaranteed a job if you're doing 20 more years of lazy work?"

While Simmons believes that certain reforms may be necessary, he said that paying professors based on how large their classes are "would not be a viable methodology."

Jones agrees.

"I think the most inefficient classes are the ones with the most students, like college algebra," Jones said. "An instructor can only do so much."

According to Sen. Maria Sachs, Democratic representative for Palm Beach County, evaluating funding for state universities based on a business model doesn't make sense for Florida.

"Our universities are places of higher learning and education. They are not factories where we churn out projective factory workers who are taught by professors who are on the same level of a supervisor that's putting out widgets," Sachs said, lending to the metaphor of "diploma-mills" that some fear Florida universities would become if professors were to receive increased compensation for large class sizes.

In 2007, Florida ranked last in the U.S. for funding of full-time students as indicated by College Board, according to Murphy. Texas funding for students was slightly higher.

Murphy also said that Texas has the highest rate of minimum wage jobs in the country, which may point to a flawed education system.

"It's taking one of the worst states for education in the country as a model. Why would we imitate them?" Murphy said. "Maybe we ought to be looking at the states that invest in higher education as models."