{"id":155104,"date":"2026-02-14T02:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T02:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/155104\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T02:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T02:41:26","slug":"senate-budget-proposal-rings-in-at-115b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/155104\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate budget proposal rings in at $115B"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Senate has published its proposed budget, capping off a confused 24 hours about when, or even if, numbers would be published.<\/p>\n

The Senate spending plan calls for $115 billion in spending. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ed Hooper said that\u2019s less than the $115.1 lawmakers allotted in the current fiscal year, as noted in Florida\u2019s Fiscal Analysis In Brief<\/a>. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 vetoes last year dropped that total below $114.8 billion.<\/p>\n

The proposed Senate budget spends more than the House proposal for Fiscal Year 2026-27, which came in at just under $113.6 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both chambers\u2019 budgets rang in at well below the $117.4 billion called for in Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 budget plan from December<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLimiting the size and scope of government helps keep Florida affordable for families and seniors. Many items needed to raise a family and retire with dignity are tax free, and we want to keep it that way,\u201d said Hooper, a Clearwater Republican.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur revenue forecasts, while still growing, have stabilized, so by spending less than we have, we are continuing to right-size our budget for the long-term, maintaining a healthy savings account and preserving the permanent, meaningful, broad-based tax relief that families and businesses plan for and count on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate officials said if last year\u2019s budget was adjusted based on a 2.7% increase in the consumer price index, spending would ring in at $118.2 billion, and if it were based on 1.4% estimated population growth, it would have grown to $116.7 billion in spending.<\/p>\n

Instead, the proposed budget comes in lower than either of those numbers by more than $1 billion.<\/p>\n

Senate President Ben Albritton said the budget will facilitate long-term financial stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing we can do to keep Florida affordable is to keep taxes low, limiting the financial burden taxes and regulations place on Florida\u2019s families and businesses. To keep taxes low, state government has to live within its means, pay down debt, and save for the future. These key principles reflect the sound financial stewardship Floridians expect and deserve,\u201d said Albritton, a Wauchula Republican.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFloridians are counting on us to maximize the use of their tax dollars by responsibly investing in key functions of government in a meaningful way, chief among these are education, health care, public safety, as well as our environmental, transportation, and clean water infrastructure. Through this budget, we are holding the line on spending, living within our means and striking the right balance between spending and saving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate leaders stressed that the budget will provide record spending for public schools, including raises for teachers, while supporting school choice options. The education spending was proposed in line with oversight and transparency measures already approved<\/a> in the Senate but awaiting action in the House.<\/p>\n

Senate Education PreK-12 Appropriations Chair\u00a0Danny Burgess stressed the education support.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain this year, Florida taxpayers will make an unprecedented investment in our children\u2019s education, providing $30 billion for public schools and K-12 scholarships, representing a $693 million increase over the current year,\u201d he said. \u201cThis level of funding increases per student funding by $150.98 and increases the Base Student Allocation by $50. We are also raising our annual investment in teacher raises to more than $1.4 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Higher Education Appropriations Chair Gayle Harrell stressed that it doesn\u2019t stop at high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are funding an increase in operating funds for school district workforce education programs along with $80.7 million for the Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive Grant Program for public schools and colleges to fund the creation or expand career and technical education programs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our university system, we maintain the low cost of tuition for instate students and make other targeted investments in specific programs. This includes $100 million for preeminent research universities, $6.4 million for UF \u2014 IFAS for workload increases and $26.2 million to support the Community School Grant Program. To support Floridians with unique abilities on the pathway to economic independence, we are investing $21.2 million for the Florida Postsecondary Comprehensive Transition Program administered by the University of Central Florida, including a workload increase. This excellent program just celebrated its 10th anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Senate has published its proposed budget, capping off a confused 24 hours about when, or even if,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4218,58362,113,28,30,29,74680,74485,412],"class_list":{"0":"post-155104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-ben-albritton","9":"tag-ed-hooper","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-news","14":"tag-florida-senate-appropriations-committee","15":"tag-proposed-budget","16":"tag-ron-desantis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}