Governor Ron DeSantis is proposing a $117 billion budget for his final year in office.
Speaking in Orlando Wednesday,. DeSantis unveiled what he calls the “Floridians First Budget” – which the Governor says focuses on fiscal responsibility. It’s now up to the state legislature to create the budget during its next legislative session, which begins Jan. 13.
The proposed budget puts a focus on education, including teacher pay increases. DeSantis is asking the legislature to allocate $1.56 billion w to increase teachers salaries in the next fiscal year.
The proposal sets aside $1.9 billion for the state college and university systems, $1.7 billion for early childhood education and $30.6 billion for the K-12 education budget, according to the governor’s office. DeSantis said he wants the state’s Bright Future’s scholarship program to remain in place.
“What the budget does is it builds off the success that we've had,” DeSantis said. “This budget's entitled Floridians First, because that's the focus of it. It's putting our people first and making sure we're good stewards, but also making sure that folks, that the needs that we have are being addressed.”
Florida’s education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas applauded the proposal, saying it shows the state’s commitment to education.
“We're going to prioritize students, we're going to prioritize teacher pay, and we're going to make sure we have a world class education system,” Kamoutsas said. “The proposed budget raises the per student funding to $9,406 per student. That's an increase of nearly $300 per student. This increase will provide the most per-student funding in Florida's history, reinforcing our commitment to support student achievement.”
In addition to education, the budget proposal included a law enforcement recruitment bonus program that gives new recruits a $5,000 bonus, funding for the Everglades and additional for transportation.
The Florida Department of Transportation would receive over $15 billion and the state’s transportation work program would receive more than $14 billion. Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director, Dave Kerner, said along with public safety, this budget helps grow Florida’s roadways, infrastructure and more.
“This budget also invests millions of needed dollars into our infrastructure, IT infrastructure for motor services, our credentialing, our licensing, our registrations,” Kerner said. “All those are very important for convenience first of all, but also for public safety. It's important that we have the correct cyber security systems and that we're properly credentialing folks that are moving to our state and getting licenses.”
The budget also sets aside millions for health care in the state, military and fiscal strength. Funding will go towards things like the Florida State Guard, cancer research, property tax relief conversations and more.
