A proposed Senate budget would allocate $8.7 billion for higher education spending, with Sen. Gayle Harrell spotlighting work on career and technical education.

Harrell chairs the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee, making her a key figure in crafting this portion of the budget, which totals $11.5 billion, including local funds alongside the proposed state and federal expenditures.

Of course, the biggest pots of money would go toward the overall State University System (SUS) and Florida College System.

The budget allocated more than $4.25 billion for the SUS, including $213.7 million for the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF-IFAS). In that silo, and others, the state says there will be no required tuition increase.

“In our university system, we maintain the low cost of tuition for instate students and make other targeted investments in specific programs,” Harrell said.

“For example, for UF-IFAS, there are funds to establish new programs in Agricultural Technology in partnership with Florida College System institutions, technical centers, and school districts. We also include $20 million for the Florida Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment at UF to develop and implement the programs and services as provided for in SB 112, which the Senate passed unanimously several weeks ago.”

Other SUS allocations include $62.7 million for UF’s Lastinger Center for Learning, $40 million for PIPELINE Nursing Incentive Funds, $38 million for the Florida Center for Nursing at the University of South Florida, $29.8 million for the Community School Grant Program, and $12.5 million for the Florida Postsecondary Comprehensive Transition Program for Students with Unique Abilities.

The Florida College System secures just over $1.75 billion in budget dollars, with a matching $40 million for PIPELINE Nursing Incentive Funds.

The budget would also allocate $1.7 billion to the College System Program Fund, $30 million to Student Success Incentive Funds, and $20 million to CAPE Incentive Funds for students who earn industry certifications.

However, Harrell highlighted in a Friday release on the Senate’s budget plans that lawmakers are pushing just under $820 million in School District Workforce funds.

“We know students are best served when education is linked to the realities and opportunities of the economy and the job market. Along those lines we are enhancing our commitment to Career and Technical Education opportunities with support for school districts and colleges that create or expand these vital programs,” Harrell said.

“We are also continuing the funding of the Graduation Alternative to Traditional Education (GATE) Program to incentivize school districts and colleges to offer high school drop-outs the opportunity to obtain GEDs and career education credentials simultaneously and free of charge to the student.”

Under this plan, the GATE program would receive $5 million, with another $7 million available for scholarship funds under the budget’s Student Financial Aid section.

Other workforce provisions include $501.9 million overall for workforce development, $100 million for Workforce Capitalization Incentive Grants, and $20 million each for PIPELINE Nursing Incentive Funds and the Pathways to Career Opportunities Grant Program for apprenticeships.

As for financial aid, the budget puts aside $1.07 billion total, including the GATE money.

Bright Futures makes up $637.7 million of that allocation. Other significant spending items include $38.1 million for the Benacquisto Scholarship Program, $35 million for the Open Door Grant Program, $29.1 million for children and spouses of deceased or disabled veterans, and $10 million for the Florida First Responder Scholarship Program.

Other notable funding pots include:

— $279.6 million for vocational rehabilitation.

— $262.1 million for the Board of Governors, including $250 million for the Board to use by developing “a methodology to distribute the funds based on factors that promote student success while recognizing the unique characteristics and missions of the individual universities.”

— $187 million for private colleges, including $135.9 million toward Effective Access to Student Education and $32.3 million for historically Black colleges and universities.

— $78.5 million for blind services.

These higher ed spending amounts are part of a slightly lower budget proposal by the Senate compared to last year’s budget.

“This budget reflects a return to a more normal budget spending pattern, aligned with our revenues over the long-term,” said Sen. Ed Hooper, Chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

“Our revenues are increasing, but instead of spending all of what we have, we are paying down debt, setting aside reserves, and creating opportunities for significant tax relief, so Floridians can keep more of their hard-earned money.”

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Sen. Nick DiCeglie, as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development, has secured $18 billion for various programs in those categories.

The committee budget is part of a proposed Senate budget totaling more than $117 billion. That plan is $1 billion more than Gov. Ron DeSantis’ outline for his “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility” budget released last month.

The largest portion of the committee budget would go to the Florida Department of Transportation to support its 5,914 positions, including nearly $13 billion — most nonrecurring — for its transportation work program.

The Department would also receive under the proposed committee budget nearly $32 million for fixed capital outlay projects; more than $13 million for increased operation costs departmentwide; $9.6 million for Florida Planning, Accounting, and Ledger Management (PALM) readiness; and $9.2 million for equipment replacement.

FloridaCommerce and its needs and programs would receive $1.7 billion, including $150 million each for the Hometown Heroes Housing Program and Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Grant Funding (CDBG-DR).

Additionally, the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Program would receive nearly $183 million, while $71.2 million would fund the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program, and $22.5 million would go toward the Economic Development Toolkit.

Under the proposed committee budget, the Division of Emergency Management, under the Executive Office of the Governor, would receive $1 billion. That includes nearly $847 million for funding to communities and $53 million for state operations during federally declared disasters. Another $3.7 million would go toward the Statewide Emergency Alert and Notification System and $3.2 million for the statewide WebEOC initiative.

The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is poised to land more than $628 million in the upcoming budget, including $4.3 million for additional equipment for the Florida Highway Patrol; $3.5 million for security and fraud prevention; $3.3 million to replace pursuit vehicles; $3.1 million to increase operational services to address driver license services backlogs; and $2.4 million for additional license plate purchases.

Florida’s Department of State is slated to receive $169.4 million, including $39.3 million for cultural and museum program support grants; $13.5 million for historical preservation grants; $5.5 million for library construction grants; and $3 million for the Division of Corporations’ Call Center Services.

The Department of Military Affairs, meanwhile, would get $103 million, including $2 million to increase the Florida National Guard tuition assistance program and $745,000 for equipment replacement.

The proposed committee budget is part of an overall proposed state budget from the Senate that increases state reserves — $500 million for the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund — and $600 million to pay down the state debt.

It also includes a 4% pay increase for all state employees, as well as additional pay raises for state law enforcement officers, firefighters, Assistant State Attorneys and Public Defenders and Department of Transportation workers. The proposed Senate budget holds the State Employees Health Insurance premiums constant.

The budget is nowhere near done. It must first be reconciled with the House budget before a cooling off period and then go to the Governor’s Office for his review.

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A bill seeking to improve access to workforce education programs and better align education systems with economic needs is now ready for the House floor.

The bill (HB 1145) from Port St. Joe Republican Rep. Jason Shoaf earned unanimous support at its final stop in front of the House Education & Employment Committee.

In presenting the bill, Shoaf explained that the legislation would allow charter schools to access funds through the Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive Grant Program to support career and technical education programs and increase the number of money-back programs offered by higher education institutions.

“House Bill 1145 clarifies that public charter schools can receive funds from the CAP Grant Program; it also increases the number of programs the college system must offer as a money-back program from three to six,” Shoaf said. “Finally, it gives uniformity to the institutions on how they determine if a student is eligible to receive their money-back program, while still allowing them to tailor it to best serve their students.”

West Palm Beach Democratic Rep. Tae Edmonds asked whether the grant program is currently only for public schools. Shoaf said current language is too broad, and this is where he feels there needs to be clarity in the law. Shoaf added that the program was never intended to exclude public charter schools from the program.

Edmonds then asked if there would be more funding added to accommodate all that might apply to the program.

“Currently we’re sitting at around $100 million recurring for this program,” Shoaf said in response. “That is a tremendous investment from the state. If the budget committee sees fit to increase it, I’m sure they can. I would be supportive. At this time that is not part of this bill though.”

Eligibility for tuition reimbursement on Florida College System money-back program courses includes attendance, program performance, participation in internships and job search documentation.

Gainesville Democratic Rep. Yvonne Hinson asked how the bill would align education programs with Florida’s labor market.

Shoaf said it doesn’t, but said there is another group that ranks different programs according to highest wage.

“Currently we have a requirement that these institutions provide three courses to where the students are able to go, attend the course, hopefully graduate and then go get a career,” Shoaf said.

“It is incentive for the institutions to offer courses that lead to a high-wage career, otherwise they’re kind of shooting themselves in the foot. And so far, we haven’t had any of our programs have to refund the money, because they’re doing a great job at incentivizing those programs.”

Hinson asked if a student completed the requirements and got a job offer, whether they would then get a refund or they would get a refund for just completing the requirements.

Shoaf said that there is a reason they are trying to bring uniformity to these programs, stating that one college had set an unachievable goal for students.

“The reason we’re bringing the uniformity here is, as it stands today, we only have the requirements that they get a job or have to get their money back,” Shoaf said. “Broward College was one in particular, not sure the thinking, but they added a requirement on there that you had to do 100 interviews. Nobody does 100 interviews.”

Shoaf said the bill is only meant to give clarity, and while colleges would be able to tailor their programs to their needs, they are not able to make the requirements any more stringent than what is required of an individual accessing the Florida unemployment system.

“We just said, look, let’s give them some clarity,” Shoaf said.

“We want to make sure everybody understands where we’re coming from. And so what we’ve said in this bill is that they can tailor it to their needs, what they see fit, but they cannot be any more stringent than our current requirements for the Florida unemployment system. Still want to give them that choice, but you can’t go worse than that. Folks, this is a solid step towards helping Florida students achieve great, meaningful careers.”

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