In a fleeting debut as Florida A&M University’s new leader, President Marva Johnson boasted of FAMU’s bounty in the state’s annual budget – noting that the extended legislative session gave her time to contribute support to the institution’s successful outcome.
A roughly $115 billion state budget was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis June 30 for the fiscal year that began July 1. It includes $65.5 million in money for FAMU, which is nearly a $40 million increase from last year, records show.
And while acknowledging the extended session, Johnson said it lasted until mid-June “in order to give us a little bit more time to work through and negotiate key budget priorities.” The session was also underway during FAMU’s presidential search that was being held over the past several months.
Johnson was selected by the university’s board of trustees May 16 and confirmed by the State University System’s Board of Governors on June 18. The budget was passed June 16 and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis two weeks later.
“This time also allowed me as the president-elect to strongly support our government affairs team and our lobbying team’s effort to push for advocacy for FAMU’s priorities,” Johnson said July 2 during a 10-minute press briefing on the Florida Capitol’s 21st floor.
Johnson – who will officially begin her term Aug. 1 – quickly walked out of the room where she spoke and did not answer any questions from reporters as “the time with the president-elect was extremely limited due to her schedule,” a spokesperson said.
Johnson did not clarify the “support” she was referring to: she was not registered to lobby for the university this legislative session and it isn’t known exactly what role she played, if any, in appropriations negotiations, including communicating with lawmakers or staff.
After this article published online, a university spokesperson said Johnson “has a strong relationship with our legislative leaders,” adding that she worked with the school’s lobbying team and “affirmed her support” of university priorities.
While FAMU’s initial request this year was for $55.5 million in funding, the 2025-26 allocations for the HBCU (historically Black college or university) actually amounted to nearly $10 million more than what the university asked for.
FAMU got $40 million for the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, $15 million for operational enhancements, $5 million for the College of Law, $2.5 million to enhance campus security, $2 million for the College of Agricultural and Food Sciences and $975,000 to conduct an agronomical study on emerging crops in Florida.
“For the first time, we’ll be bringing home a historic level of funding,” Johnson said, crediting the leadership of FAMU interim President Timothy Beard and his team as well as alumni, trustees and other university stakeholders.
Although that claim didn’t seem to be supported by available records: FAMU received nearly $70 million in the 2022-23 state budget, according to the university’s own Facebook post made on June 15, 2022. Again, after this story published online, a spokesperson clarified that they only used non-recurring funding in the original comparison.
Marva Johnson surrounded by supporters at Capitol press briefing
She was accompanied Wednesday afternoon by an entourage of FAMU trustees who supported her throughout the contentious presidential search – vice chair Deveron Gibbons, Faculty Senate President Jamal Brown and longtime trustee and former chairman Kelvin Lawson – as well as a few of FAMU’s administration team members, including Vice President of Government Relations Jamal Sowell and Chief of Staff Carmen Cummings-Martin.
Beard and FAMU board chair Kristin Harper – who did not support Johnson’s presidential candidacy – were not in attendance July 2.
“On behalf of the entire FAMU community, I’d like to thank our friends in the Florida Legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis for this record year of appropriations,” Beard said in a prepared statement. “This was truly a team effort, and we are grateful for the investment to help further our mission of educating Florida’s students to become global leaders.”
Many view Johnson’s ascension as the latest example of DeSantis’ hard-right overhaul of the Sunshine State’s higher education landscape, which played a key role in her path to the presidency.
But Johnson, group vice president at Charter Communications, has been opposed by several alumni and students as well as others in the FAMU community and beyond due to the political influence and concerns about how she lacks experience needed to be FAMU’s new president.
“Many of you know in the past few months, we have taken on water and a lot of heat about our president-elect,” Gibbons, who chaired FAMU’s presidential search committee, said at the July 2 press briefing ahead of Johnson’s address. “But let me just say this – it’s a new day for the Rattler nation.”
Gibbons is the only trustee in line to be the FAMU board’s new chair while trustee Michael White – who has also been a supporter of Johnson – is the only candidate for the vice chair role.
“It’s time for us to come together and work together,” Gibbons said. “We can no longer talk about being under resourced, not having the proper appropriations and not getting what we deserve out of the state budget and other places. That’s what this president-elect will bring to the table, along with my vice-chair elect Mike White and the rest of the Board of Trustees.”
In a July 2 university release, FAMU shared glowing remarks from Harper as well as DeSantis’s Deputy Chief of Staff and incoming Education Commissioner Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas and Florida Board of Governors chair Brian Lamb, although none of them attended the briefing.
“We are confident in the future and the new leadership at Florida A&M University,” Kamoutsas said in the FAMU release. “With this funding, the university has the resources and support to continue making strategic investments in its students, faculty, and future. We are excited to see the university continue on this upward path.”
Referring to FAMU’s success in the legislative session as a “collective effort,” Johnson thanked DeSantis and several legislative leaders for their support before ending her short address.
“We’re going to continue down a path of excellence, we’re going to continue to focus on result-driven success, we’re going to continue to showcase the value of FAMU as one of our SUS (State University System) institutions and we’re going to continue to showcase the impact that FAMU makes on our state,” Johnson said.
(This story was updated July 3 to add new information.)
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Marva Johnson makes brief public debut, touts ‘historic’ FAMU success in Florida budget
Reporting by Tarah Jean, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
