DeSantis Unveils ‘Focus on Florida’s Future’ Budget Proposal

Florida Gov. and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis speaks in the spin room following a debate held by Fox News, in Alpharetta, Ga., on Nov. 30, 2023.(Christian Monterrosa/ AFP)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled an outline of the state’s budget for the 2024–2025 fiscal year, now destined for the legislature, on Dec. 5, on Marco Island.

Dubbed the “Focus on Florida’s Future Budget,” the $114.4 billion budget is set to be even lower than the current 2023–2024 budget, and promises to lower taxes even further, yet also provide an expedited debt-elimination process, and record spending in areas like education, infrastructure, and the environment. It will also result in a reserve surplus of $16.3 billion, a $455 million decrease in the state’s debt, according to the governor.

“This is a budget that is, I think, respecting the taxpayers of this state,” said Mr. DeSantis. “We are living within our means, we’re even paring back expenses. We’re reducing the size of government. We’re cutting taxes, we’re eliminating more of our state debt, yet we also have record investment for education, record support for transportation and infrastructure, record support for environmental restoration and water quality.”

More Tax Relief

The proposed budget promises to include more than $1.1 billion in tax relief, which is divided into both new and returning tax relief initiatives and holidays.

New programs would include $431 million in reductions to the cost of homeowners insurance for housing valued up to $750,000 and an estimated $170 million worth of small-business tax cuts. Over-the-counter pet medication would also become permanently tax-free in the state, following the tax holidays on those medications and pet food already set for the current fiscal year.

The budget also includes six tax holidays, set to save Floridians an estimated $475 million. These include two back-to-school sales tax holidays, a disaster preparedness tax holiday, the returning three-month-long Freedom Summer tax holiday, and a seven-day “tool tax holiday” for Floridians who need them to make a living or just need them around the house.

The governor also reminded his audience that all baby items, such as diapers, wipes, clothes, and cribs, were made permanently tax-free this fiscal year.

Homeowners would also feel a sense of tax relief, as the budget includes a one-year exemption on taxes, fees, and assessments for homeowner insurance policies, which is set to save taxpayers $409 million and reduce the premium average by up to 5 percent, as well as a permanent exemption on flood insurance policies, which is estimated to save taxpayers $22 million over the year.

“I don’t think there ever been, before I was governor, a billion dollars or more in tax relief in a given year,” he said. “We did way more than that this year, and of course, we’re going to do a 1.1 billion going forward.”

Education Funding

The Sunshine State’s education system is also set to receive record funding in this new budget: $27.8 billion, $8,842 per student.

That includes, according to Mr. DeSantis, 300,000 scholarships for K-12 students and $1.6 billion for early childhood education, $450 million of which would be for voluntary pre-K programs.

The budget also sets priorities for teachers, setting aside $1.25 billion for teachers’ salaries—which, he pointed out, was $200 million more than the previous budget and must be spent on the teachers rather than on “bureaucracy and red tape”—$10 million for specifically recruiting veterans and first responders into the teaching profession, and $4 million for the state’s teacher apprenticeship program.

“You can sit there and go to school, and that’s fine, and I know you need to do that,” he said of the apprenticeship. “But the way you learn is really to be doing it and this apprenticeship program gives would-be teachers the ability to be able to do that.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (2nd L) talks with people before a press conference in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, in Steinhatchee, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2023. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Mr. DeSantis also said that the proposed budget includes $52 million for all of the state’s civics programs, including teacher bonuses and the ongoing debate initiative.

He used the moment to remind his audience of the ongoing changes his administration has worked to implement in the school system, including the creation of a “robust” American civics education and the opportunity for teachers to earn a $3,000 bonus for completing a civics training program.

“We’re going to continue to stress the importance that when we graduate students from our school system here, we don’t want them to be blank slates,” he said. “We want them to understand what it means to be an American citizen.”

Beyond secondary school, the governor also said that this budget would include $1.7 billion for the Florida College System and $3.7 billion for the State University system. It would also add $603 million to Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship program and $150 million dedicated to faculty recruitment and retention to counter the loss of previously-tenured “indoctrinating” professors.

“There’s been gnashing of teeth about this in the media and stuff, or some of these professors are leaving this or that, but just understand if you have Marxist professors leaving, that is a gain for the state of Florida. That’s not a negative,” he said. “I mean, we want to make sure we’re doing well. But we also understand that we do want high-quality folks, and we want to be able to compete for folks that really believe in the academic process and doing it the way higher education was originally envisioned.”

Outside of the traditional classroom, the governor’s budget also includes nearly $900 million for workforce education and the state’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, including $200 million to create new CTE subjects and programs and $20 million to expand apprenticeship programs for high school and college students.

“The best way to learn is to do, and so we’re working with businesses, we’re working with other folks to be able to slot in the students to be able to acquire the skills right they’re in action right there on the job,” he said.

Mr. DeSantis also called out the anti-Semitism and pro-Hamas sentiments present at the university level across the country, and promised $1.35 million for the Florida Holocaust Museum and “full funding” for the Florida Holocaust Task Force and the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach.

“We want the students—and we want everybody, but particularly some of these ignorant college students—to understand why we say ‘never again,’” he said.

Transportation and Infrastructure

Mr. DeSantis touted once again that his state had the largest net in migration in the country and acknowledged that transportation and infrastructure had to keep up with the surge of traffic.

His proposed budget includes a $14.5 billion investment in the state transportation work program to further develop and maintain Florida’s transportation network. That includes $630 million dedicated to expediting 20 projects specifically for relieving traffic congestion, $25 million for expanding and improving parking availability for large cargo-hauling trucks on Florida’s highways, and $75 million for the state’s ports, fuel pipelines, vertiport development, and logistic centers.

“There’s going to end up being projects that would have taken 20 years that will be done in five or six, and that’s going to make a big difference as the state’s growing,” he said, “because even though we’re laying pavement even though we’re fixing things, it’s very tough to keep up with the pace, and so by moving that money forward, that allows us to try to get ahead of this. So we’re gonna continue to do that with this budget going forward. And I think it is going to make a difference.”

Skyline of Miami, Fla., on June 29, 2019. (T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times)

Along with improving connections across the state’s urban areas, the governor’s proposed budget would also include improving connections and the development of rural areas. Those funds include $25 million for local infrastructure projects, $88.1 million to assist small county governments in repairing their infrastructure, and $100 million to expand broadband internet access across rural communities.

The proposed budget also includes hundreds of millions of dollars to support job growth and housing initiatives such as the state’s Job Growth Grant Fund and the State Housing Initiative Partnership Program (SHIP).

Environment and Water Quality

Mr. DeSantis has also boasted about his record on environmental conservation during his going-on two terms as governor, and this budget expands on that, proposing $1.1 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality.

That allotment includes $64 million specifically for the EAA Reservoir project, which is focused on reducing harmful discharges and sending cleaner water south.

“We’re going to have these reservoirs completed,” he said. “We’re gonna continue to have more water flowing south, through the Everglades to Florida Bay, as God intended. And we’re just really showing that you can take a massive, massive restoration project of a huge magnitude and actually get it done.”

Another $50 million would go to a specific project to prevent discharges of harmful water from flowing into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. An additional $135 million would go to improving wastewater facilities, septic to sewer conversions, and stormwater management projects. Biscayne Bay would receive $20 million to address water quality issues and be used for critical infrastructure, wastewater and stormwater projects, and coral reef restoration. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would also receive $3 million for its ongoing python removal efforts.

Florida’s springs would also receive $50 million for restoration efforts, and the fight against harmful algal blooms and red tide would receive $55 million.

Scene from the banks of Everglades. (Courtesy of South Florida Water Management District)

Military and First Responders

The governor’s proposed budget would also allocate millions in continued support for the state’s military and law enforcement.

The Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program would receive $20 million, continuing, for the third consecutive year, to offer signing bonuses of up to $5,000 for both first-time law enforcement officers and officers who relocate to Florida from other parts of the country.

More than $12 million would be put toward military communities, which would include an additional $2.2 million for the Military Base Protection Program to secure non-conservation lands around military installations to secure a buffer zone of protection and $7 million for improving infrastructure.

Florida’s National Guard would also receive $350 million to be used for infrastructure improvements, assisting guardsmen in achieving higher degrees and offering $1,000 recruitment bonuses.

The governor stressed the importance of Florida’s National Guard and Florida’s State Guard, especially when responding to disasters like hurricanes. And he included $1.3 billion in his proposed budget for disaster recovery and emergency mitigation.

Floridians’ Health

Last, the governor also touched on the importance of fostering a healthier future for Floridians, physically and mentally.

More than $294 million would be budgeted to support behavioral health services in a variety of matters, from crisis diversion and enhanced mobile response services to reducing costs of acute services.

His administration’s ongoing fight against opioid addiction, via the Office of Opioid Recovery, would receive more than $150 million. And the new CORE network, which helps those battling addiction, would receive more than $31 million.

Tens of millions of dollars would also be devoted to fighting Alzheimer’s and caring for Florida’s seniors, and more than $100 million would go to the state’s veterans nursing homes.

Hundreds of millions of dollars would be allocated to cancer research, $127.5 million of which would go to the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program, and $447 million would go to supporting pregnant women and children in the state, investing in adoption programs, obstetric care, the fight against human trafficking, and support for seriously ill children.

“We’re able to deliver for the people in a really, really big way,” he said. “So, I think people in Florida can have a lot of satisfaction to know that the state is strong. Our fiscal situation has never been better.”

Mr. DeSantis is set to participate in the fourth Republican presidential debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Dec. 6.