Pictured Above: Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed funding for USF’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and its Youth in Government Civics Fellows program.
Courtesy of Gage Skidmore
By Sophie Ojdanic
Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed more than $500,000 in legislative appropriations for two programs at USF St. Petersburg.
But $3 million to help the campus transition into consolidation was spared the budget ax.
The $3 million is part of $6.5 million in “operational support” that the Legislature appropriated last year. The money was divided over two years, with $3.5 million designated for 2019-2020 and $3 million for 2020-2021.
With the COVID-19 pandemic engulfing Florida, many of the state’s revenue sources have shrunk dramatically, forcing DeSantis to veto $1 billion from the state’s $92.2 billion budget.
The Legislature may have to return to Tallahassee later this year to make additional cuts.
Here is what DeSantis vetoed at USF St. Petersburg:
** $260,413 for the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, which offers help “to faculty to modernize curriculum,” according to Mark Walsh, the assistant vice president for government relations at USF.
This money would have been used as supplemental funding for the program, meaning that the program will not be terminated.
** $300,000 for USF St. Petersburg’s Youth in Government Civics Fellows program, which partners with the YMCA in St. Petersburg to offer high school students interested in public policy the chance to earn six credit hours learning about leadership in a USF classroom.
The program was a non-recurring line item in the budget, according to Walsh, meaning that the program was funded year-to-year.
“The campus will probably carry on with the program,” Walsh said.
According to Walsh, with the $3 million increase, USF St. Petersburg’s budget “ended up with more than what was vetoed out of it.”
News outlets had previously reported a $1.3 million dollar veto for the Office of Economic Development and Engagement at USF St. Petersburg. This program does not exist at USF. It was a cut from the University of West Florida.
