Gov. DeSantis seeks another big budget boost at New College

A budget proposal from Gov. Ron DeSantis provides more than $37 million for New College of Florida. That’s not including reappropriation of money marked for the Sarasota school last year.

The proposed investment comes a year after DeSantis installed a number of new trustees who set out to remake New College as a conservative institution.

“Governor DeSantis has demonstrated his commitment to New College’s growth and improvement in this budget and we sincerely appreciate his continued support,” said New College President Richard Corcoran.

“This is an important first step in structuring next year’s budget, and we look forward to working with the Legislature over the next several months to secure funds to serve our students and a bright future for New College.”

DeSantis’ “Focus on Florida’s Future” budget includes $10 million in recurring funds, $15 million in nonrecurring dollars and roughly $6 million in Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) dollars.

That’s more that DeSantis called for last year when his budget included a little under $35 million for New College. Last Session, the Legislature also provided more though a budget commission, leaving the school without about $50 million budgeted by the state in total.

That leaves Corcoran optimistic he could secure more money through the legislative process.

When DeSantis announced his budget, he brushed off accusations that higher education changes approved under his watch resulted in an exodus of faculty.

“Everybody has been complaining for years about college professors trying to indoctrinate, and all this other stuff,” DeSantis said. “For our sake, for Florida, that’s not what we want with our taxpayer dollars. We want academic rigor. We want the pursuit of truth.”

After new trustees joined the New College board, many of them conservative activists and faculty at other institutions around the country, the university fired its former President and installed Corcoran, DeSantis’ former Education Commissioner and a former House Speaker.

The changes at New College, and the investments, came a couple years after lawmakers toyed with folding New College into another major state university.

New College started the academic year, the first under Corcoran, with enrollment of more than 700 students.