The Board of Regents, which has governed Florida's universities for 36 years, gavels its business to an end Thursday as the state begins to decentralize the burgeoning education system. The final board meeting is at the University of South Florida in Tampa. While the board doesn't officially disband until June 30, there are no plans for more meetings or conference calls barring some unforeseen necessity, said regents spokesman Bill Edmonds. The regents have guided higher education in Florida since 1965, when there were five universities with 43,846 students. We've done a good job over the years.
People are always more important than structures.
Uhlfelder, a regent for eight years and former board chairman, is also a Senate appointee to the governor's task force to redesign the education system. It's like somebody trying to get bargain items before the store closes,'' Uhlfelder says. The regents, which once had a staff of 165, is down to 85. Uhlfelder says the regents have left behind an affordable system of quality education, great research universities and one of the highest producers of African-American graduates in the nation. Earlier this month, the state Legislature passed a sweeping overhaul of the education system, uniting primary and secondary schools, community colleges and universities under one umbrella.