A budget demonstrates values, and this proposal makes it clear that Florida’s students are not valued by the Governor.
Florida’s students deserve public schools that are safe, welcoming, and focused on the excitement of learning. We hoped the Governor’s budget would reflect that ideal by investing in what matters: a robust curriculum that prepares students for their next chapter, real solutions to the massive teacher and staff shortage so that every student has a professionally trained and certified teacher in front of them, and the resources students need to thrive in today’s world. But unfortunately, the Governor has failed Florida’s students.
Despite Florida ranking 45th in the nation in per-student funding and 50th in the nation in average teacher pay, the Governor’s budget offers little to address the waste and abuse of education funding. In fact, instead of fixing these failures, his budget doubles down on them, continuing to support policies that divert billions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of unelected private interests while leaving public schools and their students behind. And while the Governor continues to tout “record” investments in educator pay, the lived experiences of educators tell a different story. Eight years of broken promises have left them in a financial crisis, struggling to afford rent, homeowners’ insurance, groceries, healthcare, childcare, and other basic day-to-day expenses. This story is all too familiar for many Floridians who know it’s far more expensive to live in Florida now, under the Governor’s leadership, than before he took office.
The budget is now in the hands of lawmakers. It is now up to them to right the ship. We’re calling on the Florida Legislature to stand boldly for public schools, where 80 percent of parents proudly opt to send their children, and to pass a budget that strengthens our schools so every child can have the education and future they deserve.
Lowlights of the budget proposal (updated 12-11-25)
- The teacher salary allocation comes out to $982.50/teacher before taxes.
- Using the average teacher salary, that’s about a 1.5% raise. Certainly not enough to keep up with inflation, healthcare costs etc. And, it’s a far cry from the 5% raise his proposed budget includes for law enforcement.
- When we account for inflation, per-student funding in his proposed budget is down nearly $300 since the first budget Gov. DeSantis signed into law
- Total state FEFP funding is $16,627,571,884. Of that $4,453,766,895 is dedicated to vouchers.
- To put that another way $0.27 out of every $1.00 in state FEFP spending is going to vouchers.
- Local funding (property taxes) provides $13,975,577,660 and state funding (excluding vouchers) is $12,173,804,989. This means that the local share of public school funding is 53% with the state only providing 47% of the funding for school public schools.
- During DeSantis’ time as governor there has been a dramatic shift in who funds public education. In the first budget he signed into law, state funds accounted for 57% of public school funding! His new proposal drops that all the way down to 47%.
- The proposed budget slashes the ESE categorical by nearly 20%. The $260,830,054 proposed cut in funding for ESE is more than the proposed increase in teacher salary allocation of $201,071,100.
- Another way of saying this is that the meager salary increase offered in this budget is being done on the backs of Florida’s most vulnerable students.
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CONTACT: FEA Press, feapress@floridaea.org, (850) 201-3223
The Florida Education Association is the state’s largest association of professional employees, with 120,000 members. FEA represents PreK-12 teachers, higher education faculty, educational staff professionals, students at our colleges and universities preparing to become teachers and retired education employees.
