The majority leader of the Florida Senate says he is against the governor's proposal to transfer the USF Sarasota Manatee campus to New College of Florida.
Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, spoke publicly on the issue for the first time on Thursday, in a statement to WUSF.
He says USF Sarasota Manatee is an important part of the community and has been for 50 years, providing affordable, high-quality education and graduates that local businesses need.
"Our local businesses rely on this pipeline of talent to grow and thrive," he said. "The proposal to transfer USF S-M would unravel all the good work our community has done to create opportunity for high school students, veterans, nurses, teachers, technology engineers and insurance professionals, among others.”
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Leaders in the House and Senate are in closed door negotiations on the budget, which could result in USF's 32-acre campus being given to New College.
Those leaders include House speaker Daniel Perez, who is in favor of the idea, and current Senate president Ben Albritton. Boyd becomes the president of the Senate in November.
The idea of transferring the college first appeared last year but failed to move forward in the legislative session. Gov. Ron DeSantis included it in his budget for 2026. In exchange for acquiring the land and facilities from USF, New College would pay off $53 million in dorm debt incurred by construction of new housing at USF Sarasota-Manatee.
Legislators failed to pass a bill enabling the transfer during the regular legislative session this year. But they could come to an agreement during a special session on the budget, which ends May 29.
DeSantis installed a slate of conservative trustees to the New College board in 2023 in a bid to set the small honors college on a new trajectory, emulating the private conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. The school abandoned so-called “woke” teaching and ended programs in gender studies.
About 2,000 students and 300 faculty and staff are based at USF Sarasota-Manatee.
