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WSRE Files Federal Lawsuit To Protect Donor Funds From Pensacola State College
December 12, 2025
The WSRE-TV Foundation filed a first-in-the-nation federal lawsuit today to prevent Pensacola State College from taking control of millions in funds donated by citizens in the region to support WSRE’s popular community programming.
For nearly 60 years, WSRE has been a presence in Northwest Florida and South Alabama — educating generations of children, supporting classrooms, honoring military families, documenting Gulf Coast history, and more.
The WSRE-TV Foundation has long been the engine behind that service, sustaining the station with private charitable gifts from the public.
Today’s legal action seeks to protect those donations after Pensacola State College moved to sever ties with the Foundation and demanded control to sweep the donor-raised funds for use by the college.
According to the Foundation’s federal complaint, PSC’s president went so far as to “require the dissolution of a pre-existing private foundation and demand that funds donated by private citizens be turned over to the government entity, PSC.”
“People generously donated these dollars because they believe in the education, community storytelling, and reliable local service that WSRE provides,” said Amy Day, Chair of the Foundation board. “They did not give so their gifts could be taken away and transferred into a government budget. Protecting the trust of our community and donors’ intent is our absolute responsibility.”
The Foundation emphasized that the lawsuit centers on a simple principle shared across the region: when private citizens step up to support a community mission, government should not be allowed to seize those charitable gifts for its own use.
Individuals, families and businesses across Northwest Florida and South Alabama have donated to the Foundation — from small monthly gifts to major endowments — to support WSRE’s programming and community services. Those contributions were made voluntarily with the understanding that they would be used for public television, not college operations.
“Private generosity built and sustains WSRE,” said Day. “The people who gave these funds deserve to have their trust honored, not broken.”
Earlier this year, PSC voted to end WSRE’s PBS affiliation. The Foundation affirmed that PSC has the right to make programming decisions for the college — but that choice does not give PSC permission to repurpose private charitable gifts.
“PSC made its decision,” said Day. “But donors made theirs, too. And their support was for public television programming that we have been providing for decades.”
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