Florida Higher Education May Face Big Budget Cuts MIAMI - With three days remaining until the end of the legislative session, Florida lawmakers are moving forward with a $70 billion budget that would create the state's 12th university and cut hefty amounts of money from higher education. The House and the Senate are expected to vote this week on the budget, which also includes a $1 billion increase for prekindergarten through high school, a priority of Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican. Mr. Scott's position on the overall budget bill, with its plan for a new university, is unclear. For weeks the budget has been tangled in a disagreement between State Senator JD Alexander, the Republican chairman of the budget committee, and the University of South Florida. Mr. Alexander, who must leave the Legislature this year because of term limits, had lobbied vigorously to turn the University of South Florida's Lakeland campus, in his district, into an independent state polytechnic school. But the University of South Florida opposed the move, and then found itself fighting off a 58 percent reduction in its budget. Many saw the move as punitive. Students organized protests, and a flood of e-mails poured into the Legislature asking the House and the Senate to save the campus and pare back the cuts. After a frantic series of meetings, a compromise was struck this week. Mr. Alexander would get his Florida Polytechnic University, and the University of South Florida would face a less severe drop in financing. Over all, the Legislature agreed to $300 million in cuts to the state's universities and colleges, an amount that would be shared among them, depending on their reserves and other considerations. The Legislature expects universities to use their reserves to make up much of the shortfall. "One of the greatest concerns of the Florida Board of Governors - and rightly so - centered on the proportionality of any reductions among the state's universities," said Frank T. Brogan, chancellor of the State University System of Florida. I believe for the most part that test was met in the end. A 5 percent tuition increase would be allowed at the state's 28 colleges - once called community colleges. But the 11 universities, soon to be 12, would have to get approval for an increase from the State Board of Governors, which oversees the system. A separate bill, if passed, would allow Florida's top two universities, the University of Florida and Florida State University, to charge competitive tuition rates. The budget bill would also allow students at the University of South Florida Polytechnic campus in Lakeland to finish their degrees there. Professors would be transferred to other campuses during the transition period. "It is very important to me that the University of South Florida care for the students there," said Judy Genshaft, the university's president. Ms. Genshaft said she hoped the request that the universities use their reserves to fill budget gaps would be one-time only. Children in grade school and high school fared better. After pushing for steep cuts in public school financing last year, Mr. Scott reversed course this year and advocated a $1 billion increase. That would not quite make up the difference, but it was seen by educators and parents as a step in the right direction. The budget also includes layoffs of some state employees and no pay raises. Some state prisons would close, and there would be budget cuts for hospitals and nursing homes. The bill would curtail the number of times Medicaid patients can visit an emergency room. Senate leaders also agreed to raise the health insurance premiums of state senators, bringing them in line with rank-and-file state workers.