Students would get career warning under higher ed reform bill

TALLAHASSEE

Warning students that their career choices may not lead to financial riches could become a regular part of school counseling — starting in the sixth grade and continuing through college enrollment — under a bill that advanced in the Florida Senate Thursday.

The legislation is an early glimpse into what could be a long debate on steering students away from fields such as psychology and anthropology and toward science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees.

Gov. Rick Scott has made boosting STEM degrees a top priority. Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, is leading the charge in the Legislature with the bill mandating employment rates and salary data for various career fields be distributed to middle school and high school students, their parents and university students registering for classes.

Gaetz called his bill a “mild first step” in higher education reform that focuses on incentives for science and technology programs while not penalizing liberal arts fields, a concern many educators had with some of Scott’s higher education proposals.

The state would create an “Economic Security Report” to track employment data under Gaetz’s plan. Students would receive the report in “career-themed” courses starting in the sixth grade.

Incoming university students would get additional information on the 25 percent of degrees with the “highest full-time job placement and highest average annualized earnings,” along with the bottom 10 percent of degrees.

Gaetz’s bill also provides a variety of financial incentives for STEM programs, including extra per-student funding for high school and middle school students enrolled in industry certification classes and $15 million in “performance funding” to the five state universities that most excel in technology programs.

Universities are encouraged to devote more financial aid to STEM students and they must create a report tracking the number of students by program and degree who receive such aid.

The legislation requires the state Board of Education to create a statewide plan for STEM education at the secondary level, and universities are required to create a lengthy annual report detailing everything from the number of students enrolled in STEM fields to the number of start-up companies and private venture capital linked to universities.

Members of the Senate Higher Education Committee praised the legislation Thursday.

Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Cross Creek, said he does not view the bill as an attack on the liberal arts.

“I have no problem with people going into the fine arts and all the different arts,” Oelrich said. “This is just maybe a piece of paper that says when you go into this that very few people are going to make a gazillion dollars.”

Sen. Thad Altman, R-Vierra, supported the legislation but noted that boosting STEM graduates needs to be coupled with stronger efforts to recruit science and technology companies.

“We do need more inducements for STEM but let’s not fool ourselves,” Altman said, adding the degrees won’t do much good “if we don’t have jobs for them.”

Gaetz said his plan better links higher education “to the realities of the economy for young people” and noted that no university officials are opposing the bill.

Yet only two people stood in favor of the bill Thursday — lobbyists for the Florida Chamber of Commerce and University of West Florida — even though representatives from nearly every Florida university were in the audience.

Many university officials raised concerns when Scott first began talking about higher education reform last year because his proposals seemed to help some degree programs at the expense of others.

But Gaetz is set to become Senate president next year and university officials are treading lightly. No companion legislation on higher education reform has been introduced in the House, but Gaetz said he hopes to convince House leaders to take up the Senate bill.

Citing figures predicting 60 percent of new jobs in Florida will require science and technology education, Gaetz said “we need to tell the truth to families and to students and provide them with opportunities to get more relevant degrees relevant to the economy.”

“Now if they choose to get a degree in political science or psychology or poetry that’s fine, but we ought to tell them the truth about their chances of getting a job,” Gaetz said.