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Postsecondary Education Planning Commission

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PEPC is responsible for developing the master plan for Florida postsecondary education. It also has responsibility for reviewing and commenting on program proposals. Several people mentioned the importance of the research and policy analysis provided by PEPC to the Legislature and the Governor's office.

PEPC plays a critical role in drawing the private colleges and universities into the master plan for higher education. Additionally, PEPC reviews all contracts with the privates, so when the state wants to buy slots in private colleges and universities in Florida, PEPC is the key agency for leadership.

PEPC consists of 12 members (including one student) appointed by the Governor. The first board for PEPC acted as a blue ribbon commission, providing statewide direction for higher education. Since that time, the general quality of board members has not been as strong, a number of observers noted. An appointment to the Board of Regents by the Governor is considered more prestigious than an appointment to PEPC. Also, some officials mentioned that there is a perception that PEPC favors the community colleges over the State University System in their planning process. This perception exists because of the number of commission members associated with community colleges. According to one state official, this places PEPC in an awkward position when it considers issues that, in effect, require some determination of the merits of the case for the University System. The primary example of this ongoing tension on the board involves the issue of how many first-time-in-college (FTIC) freshmen were to be admitted to the State University System. The community colleges believed that the University System should not increase the number of first-time freshmen that it admitted. PEPC supported the community colleges on this point. Some individuals in the SUS system see this as a bias toward the community colleges.

PEPC, however, has raised questions about how many Florida high school students are eligible for the State University System and the need for better data before implementing a policy change to increase the number of first-time freshmen at the State University System.

Largely as a result of this disagreement over FTIC freshmen, the Legislature passed language last year that required PEPC to complete its master planning process before the University System, community college system, and private and independent colleges completed their strategic plans. The legislation also encouraged these systems of higher education to address how they fit into the statewide master plan.

PEPC is the advisory body to the Board of Education. In reality, however, PEPC provides information and policy analysis that aids the Legislature and Governor in making decisions about higher education in the state. PEPC has a small staff and periodically relies on consultants to assist with special projects. PEPC currently does not manage a central information base on higher education in Florida; the commission must rely on the willingness and cooperation of the segments to provide needed information.

In the first few years after its creation, PEPC functioned as a coordinating board, working closely with the Legislature. This was at a time, according to some interviewed, that the Board of Regents was a weak governing body and the Legislature attempted, unsuccessfully, to make PEPC a governing board. In 1980 the Legislature considered decentralizing the Board of Regents and creating governing boards for individual institutions. The move toward local boards was not successful and PEPC was created by executive order of the Governor.