Don Gaetz Explains $74.3 billion Florida Budget

Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, Thursday explained the $74.3 billion state budget that was unanimously passed out of the chamber on Wednesday.

The Senate budget reflects Floridas improving economy with investments in critical areas such as K-20 education funding, economic development, and our hard working public employees including teachers, law enforcement and our state employees," Gaetz said. "The language accompanying our budget underscores our commitment to improving pay for teachers and other instructional personnel based on local performance pay plans and fulfills the commitment we made months ago to find funding to increase pay for state employees who have not seen a pay raise in six years."

The budget increases K-12 public-school fundingby $1.2 billion, including $480 million for teachers' salary increases. It also returns universities to prior funding levels with $300 million set aside and an additional $30 million for university research.

"Under the leadership of Chairman Negron and our subcommittee chairs, we were able to make these investments in Floridas future in a fiscally responsible manner with no new taxes, fees or tuition increases," continued Gaetz. I am proud that [Wednesday] all 40 Senators joined together to uphold our constitutional obligation to Floridians to live within our means and craft a balanced budget. Each Senator served on at least two budget committees, and Im grateful that this level of involvement as well as the attention to detail afforded by our intensive budget review led to a product that each Senator can proudly support.

I know that under the leadership of Speaker Weatherford, the Florida House shares many of our budget priorities, and I look forward to the work ahead as we work join with our House colleagues to merge our respective budget proposals.