Plan To Ban Race in Admissions To Fla. Colleges Clears Regents

By Julie Blair

The Florida board of regents voted 12-0 late last week to ban race and gender as factors in college admissions and replace it with a program guaranteeing high achievers automatic admission to the state's 10 public colleges and universities.

Under the program, students who graduate in the top 20 percent of their high school classes would be eligible for admission to public institutions next fall, provided they had completed 10 required courses in high school, said Keith Goldschmidt, a spokesman for the state regents, who oversee higher education. College recruiters would be allowed, however, to take into consideration students' socioeconomic status, the quality of their high schools, and whether their parents earned college degrees.

The "Talented 20" admissions program is part of the controversial "One Florida" plan that Gov. Jeb Bush directed the state to implement in a Nov. 19 executive order. For the plan's education components to take effect, the order requires approval from the regents as well as the state board of education, of which the Republican governor serves as chairman. The board of education, which oversees both K-12 and higher education in Florida, is slated to consider the plan this week, and is...