Florida House committee records exemption for college searches
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A key House committee Thursday could begin moving forward with a proposal that would prevent the release of information about people applying to become presidents of state colleges and universities.
The House State Affairs Committee is slated to take up a bill (PCB SAC 20-04) that would create public-records and public-meetings exemptions for presidential search processes. That would include preventing the release of identifying information about applicants for the positions. Information about finalists for the jobs would be made public.
A Senate version of the bill (SB 774) was approved last month by the Senate Education Committee. Lawmakers have considered similar exemption proposals in the past but have not approved them. The House bill points to a need to prevent the release of information to help attract candidates for president positions.
“Many, if not most, applicants for such a position are currently employed at another job at the time they apply and could jeopardize their current positions if it were to become known that they were seeking employment elsewhere,” the House bill says. “These exemptions from public records and public meeting requirements are needed to ensure that such a search committee can avail itself of the most experienced and desirable pool of qualified applicants from which to fill the position of president of a state university or Florida College System institution. If potential applicants fear the possibility of losing their current jobs as a consequence of attempting to progress along their chosen career path or simply seeking different and more rewarding employment, failure to have these safeguards in place could have a chilling effect on the number and quality of applicants available to fill the position of president of a state university or Florida College System institution.”
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.