This study investigates the changes in the structure of state-level governance for universities in Florida from 2000 to 2002, and examines three distinct narratives that explain the processes of and the reasons for the structural changes. The author presents three specific sets of literature which help set the framework for examining the recent governance change in Florida higher education: (1) literature on state structures in higher education; (2) literature on narrative and stories in policy making; and (3) literature on the theories of punctuated policy change and the related matter of policy agenda setting. Interviews were conducted with legislators, board and task force members, staff members of the legislative and executive branches, and others involved in the policy-making process to understand further the rationale for and the meanings people made of the proposals and the alternatives considered during the change process. The information being collected revealed three different stories of the processes that played out up to the 2000 legislative enactment of the general plan for educational reorganization. One story arose from press reports and focused on the use of political power and legislative maneuvering. Another story involves members of the legislative and executive branches and their attempt to establish fuller executive branch oversight of education. Yet another story features a representative and deliberative process undertaken by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Education Governance (BRC) appointed by the commissioner of education. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)