Sen. Ken Pruitt used his opening address of the 2008 legislative session to make clear that one of his priorities is getting to voters a proposed constitutional amendment that resurrects the elected education commissioner and strips the 6-year-old Board of Governors of most of its university oversight powers.

"We will address the deficiencies in the constitutional amendment passed in 2002," Pruitt said, referring to the amendment that created the BOG. He said it failed to address "what was perhaps the most important question," which is who sets tuition?

"We are going to leave it to voters," he said. "Do they want an unelected board to set tuition? Or do they want their elected legislators to set it?"