Gov. Ron DeSantis rolled out his \u201cFloridians First\u201d budget proposal Wednesday in Orlando, calling for more than $1.5 billion in funding for teacher pay increases and a continuation of his key environmental and law enforcement initiatives.<\/p>\n
As he approaches his final year in office, DeSantis said he wants a $117 billion spending plan, about the same as the current year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the budget does is it builds off the success that we\u2019ve had,\u201d he said at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. \u201cThis budget is entitled Floridians First because that is the focus of it. It is putting our people first and making sure we are good stewards but also making sure the needs that we have are being addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeSantis said his budget proposal continues many of his top objectives, including $5,000 law enforcement recruitment bonuses, springs and Everglades restoration and expedited roadwork to alleviate traffic bottlenecks near Walt Disney World and elsewhere in the state.<\/p>\n
The proposal, which covers the fiscal year starting July 1, is a recommendation to the state Legislature. The Legislature may incorporate some or none of the governor\u2019s recommendations during its 60-day session that starts Jan. 13.<\/p>\n
This year, the Legislature had to go into overtime before it resolved its clashes over state spending priorities.<\/p>\n
The governor last year requested a $115.6 billion budget. He signed a $117.4 billion budget in June, after vetoing $567 million from the Legislative budget bill.<\/p>\n
His budget request this year is $117.36 billion<\/p>\n
DeSantis highlighted his administration\u2019s efforts to boost teacher pay and recruit college faculty. His proposal includes $30.6 billion for K-12 public schools, nearly $6 billion in operating funds for state colleges and universities, and $1.7 billion for early childhood education. It sets aside $1.56 billion for teacher pay increases and $100 million for recruitment and retention of university faculty.<\/p>\n
The teacher pay money DeSantis has pushed has boosted starting pay for Florida\u2019s public school teachers but left school districts with little money to hike salaries for veteran instructors. As a result, Florida\u2019s average starting teacher salary of $48,639 ranks 17th in the nation, but its overall average teacher salary of $54,785 ranks 50th, according to the National Education Association.<\/p>\n
![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/tos-l-DeSantis-press-conf-7.jpg\")
Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas discusses the state\u2019s 2026\u201327 budget proposal during a news conference held by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, slammed DeSantis\u2019 budget proposal soon after it was released, saying it continues to support policies that divert money from public schools to school voucher programs and private schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the Governor continues to tout \u2018record\u2019 investments in educator pay, the lived experiences of educators tell a different story,\u201d the union\u2019s statement reads. \u201cEight years of broken promises have left them in a financial crisis, struggling to afford rent, homeowners\u2019 insurance, groceries, healthcare, childcare, and other basic day-to-day expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other highlights include nearly $30 billion for the Florida Department of Transportation and the state\u2019s transportation work program; $13.5 million in pay raises for state law enforcement; $25 million for law enforcement recruitment bonuses; and $1.4 billion for Everglades and water quality projects.<\/p>\n
DeSantis said the rainy day fund tripled since he took office with the state\u2019s total reserves nearing $17 billion.<\/p>\n
The first budget DeSantis signed as governor in 2019 totaled $91 billion in overall spending.<\/p>\n
At the Orlando event, DeSantis also reiterated his support for a push to eliminate property taxes on Floridians\u2019 primary residences. He said his budget proposal includes funding to help offset any property tax losses for\u00a0 rural, fiscally constrained counties.<\/p>\n
A package of resolutions is moving through the Florida House that could lead to amendments on the 2026 ballot that would modify property taxes, including providing an additional exemption for homesteaded properties that have property insurance to totally eliminating non-school property taxes for all homesteaded properties.<\/p>\n
Ballot items would need the support of at least 60% of voters to pass.<\/p>\n
Orlando Sentinel staff writer Jeffrey Schweers contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Ron DeSantis rolled out his \u201cFloridians First\u201d budget proposal Wednesday in Orlando, calling for more than $1.5…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,114,115,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-78923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78923","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=78923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}