ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬

Dear USF community,

This morning, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state budget for fiscal year 2023-24 into law.  This transformational budget for the ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ provides significant new increases in recurring operational funding and investments in other top-priority projects for our institution.  

Building off last year’s record-breaking budget for USF, this year’s budget represents the largest operational funding increase in our university’s history.  The funding will help us continue to excel in student and faculty success, grow our research profile, make a greater impact on the Tampa Bay region and the state of Florida, support our quest to become a top 25 public university and our position as a new member of the Association of American Universities. 

Specifically, the governor approved the following:

• A $63.3 million recurring increase to USF’s operational budget to support the work of each of USF’s three campuses and USF Health. A large portion of this increase was funded through a new $100 million recurring investment in the state’s Preeminent State Research Universities Program, which was split equally between the three preeminent institutions, USF, University of Florida and Florida State University. 
   
• $24.3 million to fund the first phase of planning and construction of a new Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences Research and Teaching facility on the ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ St. Petersburg campus. This facility will enhance St. Petersburg as a world-class center of marine and environmental science, education and community engagement.
   
• $14 million to conduct a state-funded comprehensive clinical trial of hyperbaric oxygen therapy’s medical effectiveness in treating PTSD and traumatic brain injuries among veterans and active-duty military service members. 
   
• $6.5 million to invest in campus life facility projects funded through the state’s Capital Improvement Trust Fund.
   
• $3 million to complete the acquisition and installation of a new functional MRI (fMRI) machine for brain research and diagnostic purposes. fMRI measures activity in different parts of the brain during mental and physical tasks, and is a critical tool that will expand research grant opportunities for USF faculty and students. 

The budget approved by the governor also includes an $85 million increase to the state’s investment in university performance-based funding (PBF). Through the hard work of our faculty, students and staff in meeting the PBF metrics of student success over the past year, we believe this will result in a $14.7 million increased PBF award for USF for FY 2023-24 when the Board of Governors votes to distribute this funding next week.

We are incredibly grateful to the Florida Legislature for enacting, and to the governor for approving a budget that will have a lasting impact on the university.

While this was another remarkably successful state budget for USF overall, unfortunately, the governor did exercise his line-item veto authority to remove a few USF projects from the state budget for next year. These include a $20 million appropriation to help pay for the construction costs of the new Academic Nursing STEM facility on the ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ Sarasota-Manatee campus, a project which received $3 million in last year’s state budget. While we respect the governor’s decision, we remain committed to this important project, and will work with the governor and the legislature to explore other avenues of funding to ensure this important facility for our students and faculty is completed as soon as possible. Also vetoed was $2.9 million for the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at USF to lead a collaboration to develop simulation modeling tools that will improve responses and treatments for opioid use and overdoses.

We are deeply appreciative of the governor and our legislative leaders – particularly Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and Speaker of the House Paul Renner – and the entire Tampa Bay Area Legislative Delegation for their support of USF’s success, which will allow us to build on the incredible momentum of our recent invitation into the AAU.  

I would also like to thank the members of our university community for everything you continue to do to help make ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ such a strong investment for our state leaders.  

Go Bulls!

Rhea F. Law

President