On Tuesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled his FY 2024-25 Focus on Florida’s Future budget proposal. In addition to the $152 million HBCU designation, the budget included a $10 million allocation to four HBCUs in support of “facility hardening needs.”
The four HBCUs named were: Florida A&M University, Bethune-Cookman University, Edward Waters University and Florida Memorial University.
With $4.6 million less from the current year’s budget, it’s evident DeSantis wants to save more next year. The expenses, while relevant to maintaining facility needs as the respective HBCUs, did not go far enough to address its security needs.
However, Gov. DeSantis’ budget did include $1 million for FSU’s bowl game snub.
Such security measure needs could be referenced to incidents like the August 2023 Dollar General shooting in Jacksonville, Florida. Three Black people were murdered after the shooter tried to enter Edward Waters University.
“While the Governor appropriately proposes measures to address Jewish student safety, I was struck by the conspicuous absence of protections for Historically Black Colleges and Universities as they face a troubling increase of campus threats,” Sen. Shervin Jones said.
“Our goal must be safety across the board – not just for some communities.”
DeSantis has yet to address the growing security concerns at HBCUs. However, he did note during his press conference on Tuesday that “key investments would be made toward subjects that really matter like “education, infrastructure, and transportation.”
“Florida’s success is proof positive that when you establish a foundation of governing on conservative principles, success will follow. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish over the next year.”
To read the full Focus on Florida’s Future budget, please visit the Florida Governor Newsroom.
