|
The Buckman Bill
|
**
|
Florida's
attempts to make higher education accessible to as many state residents
as possible eventually created an unmanageable situation. During the 1904
legislative session, the eight state-supported schools nearly tripled their
budget requests for the impending two-year funding period. The Florida House
of Representatives immediately initiated an investigation. The schools quickly
revised their proposals and submitted lower figures, but unfortunately it
was too late. H.H. Buckman, a Duval County Representative, proposed an education
reorganization act. Buckman believed the state of Florida needed a designated
state university, a separate college for women, and a state normal school.
The Buckman Bill, passed by the Legislature during that session, eliminated
all existing state-supported educational institutions and created four new
ones: the University of Florida, Florida Female College, the Industrial
College for Negroes, and the Institute for the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb. The
bill also created a supervisory Board of Control to work with the State
Board of Education to determine locations for and elect presidents of the
new institutions. As a result of this action, the co-educational Florida
State College became the Florida Female College.
Sources:
- Sellers,
Robin Jeanne, Ph.D. Femina Perfecta, Tallahassee: The Florida
State University Foundation, 1995.
- Wills, Martee
& Morris, Joan Perry. The Seminole History: A Pictorial History
of the Florida State University, Jacksonville: South Star Publishing
Company, 1987.
|
