Rick Scott Slashes UCF Earmarks from Florida Budget
Beyond UCF, Economy, News, Politics — By Staff on May 26, 2011 at 11:35 pm TweetAll the money the University of Central Florida spends on lobbying wasn’t enough to stop Gov. Rick Scott from swinging his budget ax and hacking away several multi-million dollar “special-interest earmarks” the Legislature steered to UCF.
Gone are the following line items impacting UCF:
- $5.2 million for Classroom Building II
- $3.9 million for a physics building
- $3.6 million for an engineering building
- $6.3 million for a research and incubator facility
- $2.3 million for roof repairs and other improvements
The $21.3 million total slashed from UCF represents only a small portion of the $615 million Scott vetoed out of the state’s now $69.1 billion budget.
Even though many of Scott’s budget cuts hit higher education, Scott released a statement insisting he supports education because he directed the Legislature to steer the millions he vetoed to K-12 education.
“Special interests probably aren’t happy with the tough choices I made, but I am confident everyone can agree that funding for our children and students is more important than pleasing Tallahassee’s special interests,” Scott said in a statement.
Powerful lawmakers issued statements expressing frustration with Scott for waiting until the budget was passed to veto items instead of working with them during the legislative session.
UCF President John C. Hitt is already expressing his disappointment with Scott’s decision, seemingly taking a shot at Scott’s platform as the “jobs governor.”
“For a state that really needs new jobs, this is not good news,” Hitt told the Orlando Sentinel.
KnightNews.com will check with UCF to find out where school leaders hoped to build the engineering or physics building to find out if the UCF arboretum was a site being considered.
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6 Comments
Hahaha ….. You people now start tasting your OWN medicine ….. Enjoy. More to come because he’s up for something and going after something ….
Well hope to help the people who desperately look for work with a minimum pay to pay off their student loans and other obligation.
Once again, it’s about time to taste your own medicine. You voted him so be thankful!
Rick Scott has the wrong additude as governor he says he’s trying to run Florida like a “bussiness” , when that’s no where near what he has done. Because a “business” caters and listens to its “customers”. He has done nothing but set things in place with his personal intrests in mind. Like for example , the new “law” set in place that requires all people that are eligible to receive food stamps to get a random drug test. Look up that on google and it will tell all about Rick Scotts “Bussiness”. Guys a douche… And nothing less
What? You say we don’t need a Physics building, then say they we need to move the Physics lab portables into a building. With what space? Maybe the space that would have been created with a Physics building where a lot of labs and classrooms could have been created?
No need for another engineering building? We are a massive school that is still growing. If the demand is there as it clearly is showing it is, how do you conclude there is no need for an engineering building that would probably improve class sizes and allow for more intimate learning in order to compete with more established universities in the state and around the country?
Same with general classrooms. A classroom II has been needed for quite awhile and would impart little to no negatives and plenty more positives if it were built. More options for general class times, locations and sizes.
Most of the cuts that Rick Scott has done I can understand. We don’t need more classrooms for normal classes. There is no need for a third engineering building nor a Physics Building.
The only things that I disagree with is the research labs, because UCF is now a hotspot for research. Also, the roof and other improvements is a rediculous cut. Cause we definitelly need to upgrade some of the buildings.
One thing that I’ve noticed that UCF needs to put in is a building used only for labs. Put all the labs that are in portables right now into a single building. That would save a lot of room for UCF and not have to use the area of the trees around UCF. That is one of the main reasons why I love UCF.
Yea Rick Scott sucks, he just carried his stingy CEO attitude to the govs mansion.
Rick Scott is a douche. Him, Michelle Bachman, and Sarah Palin have turned me into a Democrat.