Legislative update May 2025
What has happened in the 2025 Florida legislative session regarding New College of Florida?
A couple notable things thus far, but read on for more detail:
New College under Richard Corcoran asking for special permission to use public education dollars usually for libraries and instructors to instead go to things like sports stadiums and dorms.
Question of New College getting Ringling and/or USF Sarasota-Manatee hasn’t moved forward – yet.
Much could change during the extended legislative session, which starts back on May 12, 2025.
The Novo Collegian Alliance will continue providing information to reporters covering New College, supporting the alum network who is educating legislators in Tallahassee, educating our community, and writing editorials in Florida newspapers. Please help support the Novo College Alliance by donating now.
What does Corcoran want from the legislature?
As we detailed in the March 2025 legislative update, Governor DeSantis asked for $15MM in additional funding, which would get them to the same total budget as 2024-2025, but with $10MM being recurring (in 2024-25 the $15MM was all nonrecurring). DeSantis also included in his budget recommendations giving New College the Ringling Museum.
The Novo Collegian Alliance raised an alarm in February about Richard Corcoran wanting the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, and in March a WUSF article revealed emails showing that New College did indeed have plans to take over the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus.
In April, we learned from WUSF that Corcoran was asking the legislature for $20MM, the Ringling campus, and the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus. The text of New College’s legislative budget request is below (note that numbering is incorrect in the original; it jumps from number 1 to number 3 with no number 2):
1. $20M New Recurring and Flexible Language below:
Matching the Governor's budget. (This amount is in addition to the past two-year appropriation received of $10 million recurring funding for operational enhancements)
Proviso Language Need: (allows flexibility to use E&G)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, New College is authorized to bond up to $5 million of its annual operational and programmatic appropriations for the purposes of intercollegiate athletics, student life, and student recruitment and retention.
3. New College Freedom Institute (bill language)
The New College Freedom Institute will actively engage the college's students, the greater Florida community, and the world to address the growing polarization and decline of civil discourse in academia and society by promoting free speech, open inquiry, respectful dialogue, and an engaged citizenship.
4. $5.8M Revert and Reappropriate the Hamilton Classroom Money
Revert and reappropriate funds initially received in FY 2023-24 under PECO for the Hamilton Classroom to funding dorm remediation needs. Funds will be used to renovate the dorms in decline including deferred maintenance of buildings, preventing further water intrusion, air conditioner replacement, etc. to add student spaces, classrooms and office space critically needed due to the rapid increase in growth of students and faculty.
5. USF Sarasota-Manatee Transfer to New College (with the accompanying appropriation and conforming bill)
6. FSU Ringling Museum and Asolo Theatre Transfer to New College (with the accompanying appropriation and conforming bill)
The Novo Collegian Alliance did a public records request for the “accompanying appropriation and conforming bill” mentioned in items 5 and 6. We received a response in less than two hours, which is MUCH faster than we’ve seen with other public records requests, stating:
The College is not the custodian of the requested records. Any approvals for appropriations and the conforming bills would be reflected in the records of the Florida Senate and House of Representatives. Further, such records may not be finalized until the end of the 2025 session.
We do want to highlight the proviso language in point 1 is really remarkable: our read is that this language would allow New College to use education and general (E&G) public revenue as collateral to build sports stadiums, dorms, and other buildings – that is, use educational dollars to pay the mortgage on buildings that usually can’t be paid for this way. Stadiums and dorms have to be funded through private donations and operating revenue, not through E&G dollars, but this language would give New College an exception. A concern is that this shifts the risk of over building from the college to Florida taxpayers – if New College builds an expensive stadium or fancy dorms and doesn’t bring in enough revenue to pay for them, the bill is paid from E&G dollars which normally go to things like paying for research, instructors, and libraries. This proviso language also seems like a dangerous precedent – what if larger Florida universities get jealous and want the same exception? We could imagine hundreds of millions of E&G dollars being siphoned from libraries and classroom instruction to expense sports stadiums.
What has Corcoran gotten thus far?
No bills were introduced during the normal Florida session specific to New College. There was no bill to create the Freedom Institute, no bill about Ringling or USF Sarasota-Manatee, and no bill for additional funds.
The appropriations bill has New College at $37MM for the 25-26 fiscal year, which would be $15MM less than the 24-25 fiscal year. It’s important to note that this would be a VERY challenging number for New College, given that would mean $2MM less for scholarships and $10MM less for temporary housing (i.e. the hotels that students are being housed in).
There is language in the appropriations bill allowing funds allocated in 2023 to renovate the Hamilton Classrooms to be used instead for “Pei Dorm Renovation”, which based on the limited discussion in public board meetings, would likely mean converting the historic Pei dorms to offices, retail, sports facilities, and potentially a “superstructure trellis” built over it (see video at the“Reimaging Pei” website). The specific language:
SECTION 14. The unexpended balance of funds appropriated in Specific Appropriation 18 of chapter 2023-239, Laws of Florida, from the Public Education Capital Outlay Trust Fund for New College of Florida Hamilton Classroom Building Remodeling (SF 1134) shall revert and is appropriated for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 to New College of Florida's PEI Dorm Renovation.
What’s next?
The regular session ended on May 2, but because the legislature did not pass a budget, they will come back into session starting May 12.
Completing the budget appropriations bill is often when additional funding and laws get passed by tacking them onto the appropriations bill during committee. For example, last year it was only in the final few days of the budget approval process when New College’s $15MM in extra funding appeared.
There was a heartening article last week pointing to the issue of New College acquiring Ringling and USF Sarasota-Manatee campuses being dead. The fact that Senator Joe Gruters and Rep. Fiona McFarland both gave on-the-record comments does seem meaningful, and would add weight to the interpretation that the behind-the-scenes efforts might be done.
That said: anything can happen during the budget approval process, which is yet to come.
In that vein, we’ve heard from multiple sources at this point that USF’s support (or lack of fighting) the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus going to New College is predicated on USF getting funds for a stadium and/or upwards of $100MM extra in their budget, so we’ll be watching USF’s funding when the legislature comes back on May 12.
Changes might come as a conforming bill, which is a bill that amends the Florida Statutes to provide for specific changes in the general appropriations bill. So you budget something, and then add language to the statutes to detail how the money is to be used and/or remove any conflicts between the laws and the new budget.
We know that the Citizens to Protect the Ringling group has heard that there might still be plans to use a conforming bill to give Ringling to New College, and this could similarly be used to give New College the USF Sarasota-Manatee, create the Freedom Institute, or allow New College to bond E&G funds to build things like stadiums and dorms.
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The Novo Collegian Alliance will continue providing information to reporters covering New College, supporting the alum network who is educating legislators in Tallahassee, educating our community, and writing editorials in Florida newspapers.
Please help support the Novo College Alliance by donating now.
