With session coming, Scott proposes $5 million for STEM

As part of his broader goal to grow jobs, Gov. Rick Scott has promised to invest more in education for science, technology, engineering and math fields -- shortened often as STEM.

During his re-election campaign, Scott promised he would secure "$10 million to create a $10,000 degree competitive STEM grant program for our state colleges."

In his 2015-16 budget proposal, Scott included $5 million in new funds for state colleges to develop or expand STEM bachelor's degrees that cost students $10,000 or less in tuition and fees. But for the state Legislature growing STEM degrees wasn't a priority and zero dollars ended up in the final budget. (The Legislature spent most of its time trying to deal with Medicaid in 2015.)

In Scott's budget proposal for 2016-17, he has proposed $5 million again.

We will wait to see how the Legislature -- which convenes Jan. 12 -- reacts to his proposal this time, but for now we continue to rate this In the Works.