Legislative Update Decmeber 12, 2025

The last two weeks have been busy in Tallahassee, with the final two interim committee weeks taking place. With the regular session convening on January 13, let’s take a few minutes to see what has been going on in the legislature.

The main responsibility of legislators in Florida’s legislative session is to pass a budget for the next fiscal year. Governor DeSantis announced his proposed budget on Wednesday, and it is, as you would expect, a very large one. The proposed “Floridians First Budget” totals $117.4 billion, including $16.7 billion in reserves and $250 million towards debt reduction.

A record amount of funding has been proposed for K-12 education. The Governor has suggested $30.6 billion for the K-12 public school system. This will include the highest per student investment ever, providing $9,406 per student, an increase of $279 over last year. This investment will also cover the costs of nearly 476,000 students who are projected to participate in Florida’s school choice program—the Family Empowerment Scholarship.

Additional funding highlights for Florida’s K-12 students include: 
 

• $1.56 billion to provide salary increases for teachers and other instructional personnel, an increase of $200 million over FY 2025-2026.
• $1.71 billion for early childhood education, including $483.4 million for Voluntary Prekindergarten.
• $300 million for the Safe Schools Allocation, an increase of $10 million over FY 2025-2026.
• $17.5 million to support civics engagement programs, including $10 million for the Florida Civics Seal of Excellence Program. 

Also on Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation aimed at fixing problems in the school voucher program. Former Senate President Don Gaetz presented SB 318, which keeps money for vouchers separated from the budget for public schools. In 2023, the voucher funds were incorporated into the general education budget, making all Florida schoolchildren eligible. But as Sen. Gaetz said, “Scrambled funding doesn’t work. This bill is an appropriate step to safeguarding and sustaining our school choice program.”  This concept gained support from Governor DeSantis when he shared his budget proposal. This is an important bill to keep an eye on during the upcoming session. FASA will provide updates via our bill tracker as the bill moves.

As the committee weeks wrapped up, several bills were filed; however, they have not been heard or moved yet.  Some notable bills that FASA is tracking, and have been heard in committee in the past two weeks, include SB 630 – Administrative Efficiency in Public Schools, which is the bill that has been filed in the previous two sessions, in similar forms, by Senator Corey Simon. It is referred to as the “School Deregulation Bill.” Other legislation of note includes several bills that address the elimination or reduction of property taxes; SB 430, Oaths of School Personnel; SB 250, The “Rural Renaissance Bill”;  SB 124, Florida Virtual School; and SB 556, Requirements for Standard High School Diploma. All of the bills that are being tracked by FASA can be found on our Bill Tracker.

If you have not registered to attend FASA’s Advocate ’26 conference, time is running out! Make sure to join us in Tallahassee, January 26-28, 2026. This is a very unique and impactful event, where you can discuss policy and the future of education with your legislators. This is an amazing event, do not miss it! Click here to learn more about Advocate ’26 and register today.

I hope you all have a very safe, restful, and fun holiday break! I look forward to working with you all in 2026!