Florida’s state colleges aren’t open to people who don’t legally reside in the United States under a policy approved Tuesday by the State Board of Education.
In a telephone-only board meeting, the panel voted to require all students admitted to the state’s 28 colleges to be a U.S. citizen or “lawfully present in the United States.” The state colleges, once known as community colleges, must require students to present documentation before enrolling.
None of the board members debated, discussed, or publicly questioned the policy. By contrast, dozens of public commenters phoned in to speak against the measure.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando who is running for mayor, spoke during public comment and noted the Legislature did not pass a bill to kickstart this policymaking.
“I just wanted to emphasize that this morning’s meeting was started with a prayer, and it’s important to know that we are all God’s children, and the attempt to restrict a child’s access to higher education based on the documentation status that is no fault of their own is un-American, it’s unfaithful — and it’s absolutely, is also, constitutionally concerning — because, obviously, the Florida Legislature, we did not pass legislation on this matter,” Eskamani said.
The policy also bars colleges from admitting students based on race, color, sex, disability, national origin, religion, or marital status.
The board’s move follows that of the Florida Board of Governors, who last week took the initial step to implement the same policy at state universities. Members are expected to take up the matter at a future meeting.
Kathy Hebda, chancellor of the Division of Florida Colleges, said during the meeting that state law ascribing power to the Board of Education “requires the state board to prescribe through rule minimum standards and guidelines for FCS [Florida College System] institutions on a number of aspects of education, including student admissions.”
A second policy approved Tuesday requires those enrolling in adult general education programs at those institutions to also be a U.S. citizen “or lawfully present in the United States.” Those courses often are designed to help students earn a high school diploma equivalency or learn English.
The new policy requires colleges to create policy, particularly policy that “must be applied consistently to all students and in a nondiscriminatory manner.”
Board member Daniel Foganholi voted against the adult education piece, although he did not speak up during the meeting with objections.
Statutory authority The Joint Administrative Procedures Committee (JAPC) sent a letter to the Department of Education last week, questioning its statutory authority to make a rules banning undocumented students. The panel is a legislative committee comprising both House and Senate members.
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith was among those who spoke during public comment, and sits on the committee that sent the letter.
“Our constitution also requires you to provide for the education of all children within our borders, which makes what you are doing unconstitutional for those dually enrolled minors in the Florida College System classes,” Smith said.
Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican from Crestview and a member of the joint legislative committee, backs the board’s policy.
Gaetz told the Phoenix he did not and would not have voted to send the letter, which is signed by the committee’s chief attorney, to the education department.
The joint legislative committee will “tend to throw the flag if they believe that a state agency has acted without appropriate legislative authority or appropriate statutory authority,” Gaetz, a former Senate president, said.
Florida Dreamers aren’t giving up just yet
“The policy issue is: Should illegal aliens receive taxpayer-funded higher education in Florida? And in my view, the answer to that question should be no. And if necessary, I will file legislation to ensure that the decision of the state board is enshrined in statute,” said Gaetz, who returned to the Senate in 2024 after term limiting out in 2016.
Last year, legislators voted to remove in-state tuition for undocumented students, repealing a 2014 law that allowed individuals brought to the United States as children without documentation, known as “Dreamers,” to pay in-state tuition.
“I don’t believe in a time when budgets are tight and when the policy of our state is to discourage illegal aliens from coming here, I believe that it ought to be the public policy of our state not to provide taxpayer-funded higher education subsidies to illegal aliens,” Gaetz.
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