Edison State College is getting a new school.

The college, despite expecting enrollment to stay flat next year, will be adding a School of Health Sciences, following a vote by Edison’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday.

Administrators told the trustees that with health-care workers making up 25 percent of Southwest Florida’s workforce, health sciences represent the next logical step in Edison’s growth.

The school’s programs — one bachelor’s degree and six associate’s degrees — will split from the School of Nursing. The college is still on the hunt after one failed search for a dean of nursing, which had been filled on an interim basis by Associate Dean Mary Lewis, who has since retired.

Although the college has an internal requirement that a department encompass two bachelor’s degrees before becoming a school, the trustees agreed to set that requirement aside, as they did when they created the School of Nursing.

“We certainly have faculty support to move forward with the proposal, and also it is a common model in higher education,” said Steve Atkins, vice president of academic affairs at Edison.

Atkins reported that splitting health sciences off from nursing will actually save the college about $5,000, by re-distributing the three top administrative positions in the school of nursing.

The change comes amid a slew of other adjustments at the college, following a tumultuous three months. Some of those changes discussed Tuesday include:

¦ The posting of salary and benefits for all college employees on the Edison website, was announced Tuesday. The salaries are available at edison.edu/humanresources/compensation as a searchable database.

¦ An ongoing third-party investigation into allegations of discriminatory hiring practices at the college, which may be completed as early as next month, according to college attorney Mark Lupe.

¦ The elimination of two high-level administrative positions at a savings of $755,000.

Senior Vice President James Browder accepted a severance from the college after being forced out last month. The one-year contract for Lee Campus President James Martin, hired after a national search, is being allowed to expire June 30, with no reassignment for Martin.

¦ A handful of new board policies for improving transparency, including placing full board workshop and meeting agendas on the Edison website, along with minutes. Minutes have not previously been taken at board workshops, but were being recorded as of Tuesday.

¦ A six-point plan undertaken by President Kenneth Walker to improve transparency, including early steps to take surveys among students and staff of the college’s climate, and to hire an outside consultant to analyze the college’s administrative structure and compensation.

Faculty Senate President Don Ransford addressed the trustees on Tuesday as part of a new standing report from a faculty representative, and expressed the faculty’s support for Walker’s six-point plan.

“I think I speak for the faculty when I say we are anxious to move forward in a positive direction, and I’m sure you are as well,” Ransford said.

Trustees also received an update on the upcoming year’s budget, which includes a roughly 7 percent decrease in state funding.

The college is making out with fewer state cuts than many other higher education institutions in Florida, and some of the budget pain is expected to be offset by a tuition increase of 8 percent, which Edison anticipates will bring another $2.7 million into the college’s coffers.

That means students will be paying between $3,074 and $3,409 per year for associate’s or bachelor’s degrees, assuming a 30-hour course load, if the governor approves the budget awaiting his signature now. The tuition increase is a requirement in the Legislature’s budget for all state colleges and universities in 2011-12.

Vice President of Financial Services Gina Doeble also reported on Tuesday that the college is waiting to see whether $8.5 million in construction funding will remain intact. All of that money would be used toward renovations, remodeling and general repairs, but the funds fall into a category of $100 million in higher education projects Gov. Rick Scott has said he is considering for veto.

Edison’s projects are also included on a list of “turkeys” issued by Florida TaxWatch on Tuesday. The annual list targets spending measures authorized by the Legislature that the watchdog group deems to have been passed outside the full legislative process.

According to FloridaTaxWatch.org, $7.5 million for Edison renovations were included in a requisite list of funding requests, but the expenditures were added to the state budget bill at the last minute.

Two Florida Gulf Coast University projects totaling $9.5 million were labeled turkeys, including $4.5 million added at the last minute for a partially-constructed academic building , and $5 million for the university’s Innovation Hub renewable energy research building. The latter project has been on the priority list for funding three years in a row, but according to Florida TaxWatch, it was funded ahead of “higher priorities.”