Ryan Nicol
The State University System Board of Governors approved a legislative budget request (LBR) Friday that includes an ask of $252 million in additional recurring funding in the upcoming 2020-21 budget.
The budget included a Friday amendment allotting an extra $2 million for Florida International University (FIU).
The University of Florida is the top dog when it comes to the Board of Governors budget request. That body is seeking more than $55 million in recurring funds for UF.
Florida State University was placed second in terms of funds requested, at $43.4 million, followed by the University of South Florida at $33.8 million and the University of Central Florida at $25.8 million.
Public universities submitted their various funding requests earlier this year. The Board’s original 2020-21 LBR was adopted back in August and sent to the Governor in October.
Friday, the Board approved a motion bumping up FIU’s allocation from $19.5 million to $21.5 million. That was driven by the university’s ask for additional funding for environmental research, specifically dealing with water issues.
“FIU’s first research center was focused on water and the environment and is currently the largest research center at FIU,” the school said in its request to receive extra dollars.
“The FIU programs participating in the Environmental Resilience initiative will address some of the state’s most pressing environmental and economic problems. It will also drive FIU along a trajectory to increase its number of top National Rankings.”
Schools made their final pitch for funding requests this past Tuesday.
“The 2020-2021 LBR will provide flexibility for the Board of Governors and individual university boards of trustees to jointly manage the system to meet the critical needs of the state, achieve the statewide goals and objectives of the updated State University System (SUS) Strategic Plan, and demonstrate accountability and transparency,” according to the Board of Governors.
The amended LBR will be sent to the Governor in December.
The total operating funding for the State University System in the 2019-20 budget was $4.4 million.
A full list of recurring funding requests is below:
—University of Florida: $55.3 million
—Florida State University: $43.4 million
—University of South Florida : $33.8 million
—University of Central Florida: $25.8 million
—Florida International University: $21.5 million
—Florida Atlantic University: $16.7 million
—University of North Florida: $16.7 million
—University of West Florida: $12.8 million
— Florida Gulf Coast University: $12.1 million
—Florida A&M University: $9.7 million
—New College of Florida: $2.2 million
—Florida Polytechnic University: $2 million
