DeSantis approves $101B budget
Largest-ever spending plan laden with federal COVID-19 relief funds
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a $101 billion budget Wednesday, the largest-ever state spending plan, boosted with $10.2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money.
Lawmakers steered much of the federal funds to raises for teachers, police and other first responders at DeSantis’ request.
The governor also vetoed $1.5 billion in funding.
The federal money, along with rosier revenue forecasts from state economists, helped prevent cuts to education and health care programs, which Republican legislative leaders had initially proposed before Democrats in Congress passed the latest round of COVID-19 relief in March.
At a bill signing ceremony at The Garlic, a New Smyrna Beach restaurant, DeSantis attributed the much larger budget to his policies
of reopening the state from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions earlier than other states.
“Part of the reason we’re here is because we’ve had good stewards in the Legislature who spend conservatively; and responsibly, but also the fact that Florida has schools open, businesses open and people having the right to work,” DeSantis said. “That has made all the difference.”
The federal money helped gain Democratic support for the budget, which passed the Legislature with only one negative vote, from Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey-in-theHills. The spending plan takes effect July 1.
But Democrats also chided DeSantis for not crediting the federal funds for bailing out the state.
“That money, and the additional billions sent to local communities avoided a potential budget crisis and will help jump-start Florida’s recovery,” Democratic House co-leader Bobby DuBose posted on Twitter. “It’s unfortunate that more of those dollars won’t go directly into the pockets of Floridians to aid our state’s recovery.”
The $101 billion spending plan is $9 billion more than the current year budget.
It includes $22.4 billion for K-12 schools, or about $7,795 in per student funding, a $38.71 hike on the current year. That includes $550 million to increase the salaries of teachers, a $50 million increase, and part of DeSantis’ push to get all teachers to a minimum salary of $47,500.
The funds brought calibrated praise from the Florida Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state and an ardent political foe of DeSantis.
“Going into the 2021 legislative session, we were told to expect deep cuts in higher education and smaller cuts for PreK-12 public schools,” FEA President Andrew Spar said in a released statement. “Given the circumstances, the final budget is a win for our students and public schools.”
But he added that “it is not perfect” because veteran teachers making higher salaries didn’t share in the salary boost and it gives too much money to “unaccountable private and religious schools” through vouchers at the expense of public schools.
DeSantis vetoed $1.5 billion from the budget before signing it, with $1.35 billion coming from the federal COVID-19 relief money. He said he vetoed $1 billion for an Emergency Response Fund lawmakers set up to pay hurricane recovery grants more rapidly after a major storm instead of waiting for FEMA reimbursements because the relief funds couldn’t be stored away for future uses.
He also nixed $350 million in relief funds the Legislature put in the Budget Stabilization Fund, a type of reserve fund, and $96.5 million in sweeps of trust funds.
That left about $61.5 million in vetoes of tangible projects cut by DeSantis, and the ones that fell on Central Florida projects upset Democrats in the Orlando-area delegation.
Democratic Reps. Anna Eskamani and Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando slammed DeSantis’ decision to ax $750,000 for the Zebra Coalition, a group that was aiming to use the money to build transitional housing for homeless LGBTQ youth, as well as $150,000 for mental health services for survivors of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting with the Orlando United Assistance Center.
And Sen. Randolph Bracy, D-Ocoee, was chagrined to see the veto of $1 million for the Valencia College film school to create a documentary about the 1920 Election Day riots in Ocoee, in which a white mob lynched and killed Black residents who attempted to vote.
“It was disappointing. There was a lot of work that went into that,” Bracy said. “We had a great budding partnership with Valencia and we were working with scripts and working with distributors for a movie. And so it’s disappointing that the governor didn’t see the value in bringing attention to the massacre in this way, letting the story be told nationally.”
But Bracy was able to get $305,000 in the budget to set up the Ocoee Scholarship Program, which will grant tuition payments of up to $6,100 to descendants of the victims of the 1920 riots.
“I’m very happy about that and it’s historic because never has a state legislature in the history of this country done something like this,” Bracy said. “I do think the movie had value also, but the scholarship will last long after I’m gone.”