The Florida Board of Governors was created in 2003 to centralize the administration of the State University System of Florida. Previously, Florida's State University System had been governed by the Florida Board of Regents (1965–2001) and the Florida Board of Control (1905–1965).
Prior to 1905, Florida's state institutions were governed by a Board of Education and even earlier variations thereof, reaching back to the Florida Constitution of 1838 wherein higher education and normal education was established, based on grants of land from the U.S. Congress. From 1905 to 1965, the few universities in the system were governed by the Florida Board of Control. The Board of Control was replaced by the Florida Board of Regents in 1965, to accommodate the growing university system.
The Board of Regents governed until it was disbanded by the Florida Legislature in 2001, and its authority was divided between the Florida Board of Education (which was given some authority over all levels of public education in the state), and appointed university boards of trustees, which operated independently for each separate institution. In 2002, Floridians led by U.S. senator Bob Graham passed an amendment to the Florida Constitution establishing a new statewide governing body, the Florida Board of Governors.
^ abcIn 1836, the United States Congress authorized the establishment of a University of Florida in the Florida Territory to be located on lands reserved in both East and West Florida. In 1851, the Florida legislature voted to establish two seminaries of learning: West Florida Seminary (which later became Florida State University) and East Florida Seminary (which later became the University of Florida).[8] In 1905, when the Buckman Act reorganized higher education in Florida, the three resulting state institutions (Florida, Florida State, and Florida A&M) all adopted 1905 as their founding date. In 1935, the Florida Board of Control changed the founding dates of Florida and Florida State to the years their predecessor Seminaries opened: 1853 and 1857, respectively. In 2000, Florida State reverted to the charter date of 1851 as its founding date, which was used before 1905,[9] reflecting the date the legislature authorized both seminaries. Florida A&M later declared its founding date to be 1887 to reflect when its predecessor, the State Normal College for Colored Students, was founded.[10]
^"Contact Us." State University System of Florida. Retrieved on August 26, 2011. "Florida Board of Governors State University System 325 West Gaines Street, Suite 1614 Tallahassee, Fl 32399-0400"
^"Timeline". The Florida Memory Project. State Library and Archives of Florida. 1851. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
