Florida\u2019s state colleges aren\u2019t open to people who don\u2019t legally reside in the United States under a policy approved Tuesday by the State Board of Education.<\/p>\n
In a telephone-only board meeting, the panel voted to require all students admitted to the state\u2019s 28 colleges to be a U.S. citizen or \u201clawfully present in the United States.\u201d The state colleges, once known as community colleges, must require students to present documentation before enrolling.<\/p>\n
None of the board members debated, discussed, or publicly questioned the policy. By contrast, dozens of public commenters phoned in to speak against the measure.<\/p>\n
Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando who is running for mayor, spoke during public comment and noted the Legislature did not pass a bill to kickstart this policymaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to emphasize that this morning\u2019s meeting was started with a prayer, and it\u2019s important to know that we are all God\u2019s children, and the attempt to restrict a child\u2019s access to higher education based on the documentation status that is no fault of their own is un-American, it\u2019s unfaithful \u2014 and it\u2019s absolutely, is also, constitutionally concerning \u2014 because, obviously, the Florida Legislature, we did not pass legislation on this matter,\u201d Eskamani said.<\/p>\n
The policy also bars colleges from admitting students based on race, color, sex, disability, national origin, religion, or marital status.<\/p>\n
The board\u2019s move follows that of the Florida Board of Governors, who last week took the initial step<\/a> to implement the same policy at state universities. Members are expected to take up the matter at a future meeting.<\/p>\n Kathy Hebda, chancellor of the Division of Florida Colleges, said during the meeting that state law ascribing power to the Board of Education \u201crequires the state board to prescribe through rule minimum standards and guidelines for FCS [Florida College System] institutions on a number of aspects of education, including student admissions.\u201d<\/p>\n A second policy<\/a> approved Tuesday requires those enrolling in adult general education programs at those institutions to also be a U.S. citizen \u201cor lawfully present in the United States.\u201d Those courses often are designed to help<\/a> students earn a high school diploma equivalency or learn English.<\/p>\n The new policy requires colleges to create policy, particularly policy that \u201cmust be applied consistently to all students and in a nondiscriminatory manner.\u201d<\/p>\n Board member Daniel Foganholi voted against the adult education piece, although he did not speak up during the meeting with objections.<\/p>\n Statutory authority\u00a0The Joint Administrative Procedures Committee (JAPC) sent a letter to the Department of Education last week, questioning its statutory authority to make a rules banning undocumented students. The panel is a legislative committee comprising both House and Senate members.<\/p>\n Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith was among those who spoke during public comment, and sits on the committee that sent the letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOur constitution also requires you to provide for the education of all children within our borders, which makes what you are doing unconstitutional for those dually enrolled minors in the Florida College System classes,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican from Crestview and a member of the joint legislative committee, backs the board\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n Gaetz told the Phoenix he did not and would not have voted to send the letter, which is signed by the committee\u2019s chief attorney, to the education department.<\/p>\n The joint legislative committee will \u201ctend to throw the flag if they believe that a state agency has acted without appropriate legislative authority or appropriate statutory authority,\u201d Gaetz, a former Senate president, said.<\/p>\n Florida Dreamers aren\u2019t giving up just yet<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe policy issue is: Should illegal aliens receive taxpayer-funded higher education in Florida? And in my view, the answer to that question should be no. And if necessary, I will file legislation to ensure that the decision of the state board is enshrined in statute,\u201d said Gaetz, who returned to the Senate in 2024 after term limiting out in 2016.<\/p>\n Last year, legislators voted to remove in-state tuition for undocumented students, repealing a 2014 law that allowed individuals brought to the United States as children without documentation, known as \u201cDreamers,\u201d to pay in-state tuition.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe in a time when budgets are tight and when the policy of our state is to discourage illegal aliens from coming here, I believe that it ought to be the public policy of our state not to provide taxpayer-funded higher education subsidies to illegal aliens,\u201d Gaetz.<\/p>\n _________<\/p>\n Independent Journalism for AllAs a nonprofit newsroom, our articles are free for everyone to access. Readers like you make that possible. Can you help sustain our watchdog reporting today?<\/a><\/p>\n SUPPORT <\/a>Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s state colleges aren\u2019t open to people who don\u2019t legally reside in the United States under a policy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-325215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}