DeSantis Focuses on Florida’s Future

On Tuesday, December 5th, the Marco Island Charter Middle School was host to Governor Ron DeSantis who announced his Focus on Florida’s Future budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25. The Future Budget totals $114.4 billion, more than $4.6 billion less than the current year's budget with $16.3 billion in reserves leaving ample resources for unforeseen economic issues. According to DeSantis, Florida has experienced record success over the last five years, ranking number one in education, net migration, entrepreneurship, and new business formations, with 2.7 million new businesses formed since 2019.  

Under the Governor’s leadership, Florida has become the national leader in education. Florida is again ranked number one overall in education, number one in education freedom for the second year in a row and has been ranked number one in higher education for nearly a decade. The Focus on Florida’s Future Budget continues to propel Florida’s education forward by investing in our students and families. 

Several important investments include: 

* $1.25 billion, an increase of $200 million, in funding to provide salary increases for teachers and other instructional personnel. 

* $1.6 billion in funding for early child education, including $450 million for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK). 

* Historic $27.8 billion in funding, of which $15.1 billion is record state funding for the K-12 public school system. This covers the costs associated with the current projected enrollment of over 3.1 million students, including over 274,000 students projected to participate in the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program. 

* $1.7 billion in state operating funding for the Florida College System. 

* $3.7 billion in state operating funding for the State University System. 

* $125 million in total funding to reward quality nursing education programs to address nursing vacancies. 

* $150 million for the State University System and the Florida College System for the recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty. 

The FY 2024-25 budget is available at: www.flgov.com