Florida House and Senate are deeply divided over budget

The Tallahassee money games have begun.

The Florida House and Senate in the last 24 hours released dueling state budget plans that are about $1 billion apart, with the House proposing to spend $113.6 billion and the Senate $115 billion between July 1 this year and June 30, 2027.

Neither the House nor the Senate budget meets the $117.4 billion spending level Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed in his FY 2026-27 budget request submitted in January.

And the legislative proposals fall short of the governor’s wishes on several fronts. For instance, DeSantis pushed for $62 million for the Florida State Guard, a $26 million increase over its existing budget.

The House’s budget would slash funding for the State Guard altogether, whereas the Senate would direct $33.9 million to the guard, or about $700,000 less than today.

Other examples of DeSantis’ legislative budget request falling short with legislative leaders include:

• Teacher pay raises: The governor wanted $200 million in additional funds for teacher pay raises. The House and Senate offered half that amount, with the former proposing $101.4 million and the latter willing to appropriate $100.3 million.
• Schools of Hope: The governor’s legislative budget request included $20 million for Schools of Hope, or charter schools that may co-locate in struggling public schools. The Senate’s proposed budget would allocate $6 million for the charter schools, keeping funding at existing levels, while the House, which has traditionally championed Schools of Hope, eliminates funding for them altogether.
• Job growth grants: DeSantis asked for $50 million a program that awards money to cities and counties. The Senate agreed to the request but there is no funding for it in the House budget.
• Emergency fund: The governor asked for $500 million for a controversial emergency fund that has been used to pay for immigration enforcement. The Senate has offered $250 million while the House only set aside $100 million and has recommended limiting the fund to natural disasters.
• Food testing: The governor announced in a budget-related press release that he wants $5 million to expand testing for contaminants, such as heavy metals, bacteria, pesticides, and microplastics, to safeguard public health and ensure that food and household items used by Floridians are safe and trustworthy. The Senate’s proposed budget includes $2 million for testing. The House budget doesn’t include any funding for the program.

The House included a proposal from the governor to transfer the campus of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee to New College of Florida. The Senate does not include that proposal.

Past midway point

The release of the proposed spending plans by the House and Senate on Thursday and Friday, respectively, marks the beginning of the FY 26-27 budget negotiations.

Tensions were high leading to the eventual public release of the spending plans, with House budget subcommittee chairs announcing early Thursday morning they had shared their spending recommendations on health care, education, the environmen, and government with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lawrence McClure.

By early that afternoon, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ed Hooper said the Senate, which had been prepared to release its spending plan that day, would delay until next week so the chamber could move in concert with the House.

After Hooper’s mid-day statement, the House released its budget Thursday night.

The Senate then issued a statement late Thursday announcing it would release its proposed budget — and respective conforming and implementing bills — Friday.

Although the Senate proposes spending $1 billion more than the House, Hooper contended in a written statement that the Senate’s proposed budget is conservative.

“Limiting 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,” Hooper said. 

“Our 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.”

Reporter Jay Waagmeester contributed to this report.

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