Florida lawmakers from the Senate and House released their fiscal year 2025-2026 spending budgets. But how do they compare with each other and the governor’s proposed plans?
On February 3, Florida Governor DeSantis introduced a $115.6 billion budget. It calls for a spending decrease of $3 billion (2.5%) from the previous year. The governor’s office coined his proposal the “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility,” highlighting $14.6 billion in reserves, ranking #1 in education, net in-migration, entrepreneurship, and new business formations, with 2.7 million new businesses formed since 2019—all while eliminating spending and saving Florida taxpayers money.
Since his term, Governor DeSantis says his policies have helped pay down an additional $1.7 billion in tax-supported debt and providing $2.2 billion in tax relief, while reducing the size of government.
Now the debate will take place on what spending priorities rank higher than others.
Florida Tax Watch released its analysis on the State Senate and state House budget proposals.
The Florida State Senate’s budget proposal totals $117.4 billion, which would be $1.3 billion less than current spending but $1.7 billion more than the Governor’s proposed budget. It reduces state employee positions by 967, all of which are currently vacant.
The budget includes a 4% across-the-board pay increase ($1,500 minimum) for state employees. It would provide a 1.5 percent increase in per-student funding (FEFP) and keep the same school property tax rate as currently in effect, meaning school property taxes would increase by $432.3 million.
The State House proposed budget carries a smaller price tag—just under $113.0 billion. This is $4.4 billion less than the Senate is proposing, due to the House sales tax cut. The House proposes reducing state employees by more than 7,000 positions and does not include an across-the-board pay hike.
The House and Senate are both close on public school funding.
Despite the smaller spending plans released by the House and Senate, Tax Watch says there is no indication that state lawmakers are interested in cutting spending, especially on “member projects.”
“Our initial search found just under 1,000 projects in the House budget and just over 1,300 in the Senate Budget,” Florida Taxwatch said.
