A Closer Look at the House and Senate Proposed Spending Plans for FY 26-27

By Christine Sexton, The Florida Phoenix

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.The Senate proposes $200,000 to fund the “Patriotic displays in classrooms” bill, which would put pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in each public school in the state. The House did not lay out a specific line item for that.