State Senator Jeremy Ring may be a Democrat, but his proposed "economic development tool" is anything but democratic.
The bill is supposed to alter current standards for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program to encourage students to study the sciences, education or health-related professions. Ring's idea includes awarding 110 percent of tuition costs to students who choose those fields, but less Bright Futures money to the philosophy and English majors among us.
The senator claims that state scholarships would still cover 80 percent tuition for some students and would remain a "good deal," but we don't see anything overtly wrong with the deal we have now.
The whole purpose of the merit-based Bright Futures program is to allow students the chance to attend a state university and discover what interests them - while keeping them in Florida.
While we have no problems with incentives for certain areas of study, and the courses of study Ring cited in the bill are vital to the future of the state's economy. However, we do have a problem with taking away scholarship funds from students who worked hard to earn them.
If the Bright Futures program is used as a device for socialism to promote a certain type of workforce, it will have done students in Florida planning on a merit-based scholarship a great disservice.
Many top students in Florida stay in the state because of the generous program, and changing it by these unfair measures may cause some students to look beyond state borders - certainly the opposite of what Ring wanted in the first place.
If passed, and we hope that it won't ever find a sponsor in the House, the bill would only create a university full of disengaged students on a one-way track to career dissatisfaction.
Don't the best and brightest in Florida deserve better than that?
