Florida lawmakers remain split on higher education funding amounts and mechanisms, with House and Senate still negotiating in Tallahassee.
A crucial funding fight over Florida’s colleges and universities is still unresolved as House and Senate negotiators move through budget conference talks in Tallahassee.
The two chambers remain roughly $140 million apart on higher education spending. but the breakdown goes deeper than the final price tag.. Lawmakers also disagree on how to distribute money to public higher education—whether through direct operating support for institutions like state colleges or through performance-based “preeminent” funding intended to strengthen the state’s top universities.
The Senate’s initial approach would provide $9.05 billion for Florida’s state colleges and universities. while the House’s first offer totals $8.91 billion.. As negotiations resumed this week after lawmakers failed to pass a budget during the 60-day Regular Session. the gap has become a focal point for higher-education stakeholders and lawmakers alike.
Even within the overall totals, priorities differ sharply.. The Senate is seeking $90 million for its funding model tied to state colleges, alongside faculty recruitment and incentive efforts.. The House. in contrast. slashed that category completely in its first proposal. setting up a dispute over how best to support colleges that serve a broad share of Florida’s students.
The chambers are likewise split on the Board of Governors Educational Support Grant Program. The House’s first offer includes $84.2 million for the program, while the Senate proposes $0.
While lawmakers hash out the financial details. another policy dispute—unrelated to day-to-day funding formulas—has also worked its way into the conference negotiations.. After the House passed a failed bill in the 2026 Regular Session. it remains pushing to transfer the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida.. Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee Chair Gayle Harrell indicated the chamber is still evaluating the issue.
“At this point, we haven’t made a decision yet,” Harrell said. “We’re going to be looking at that issue seriously. At this point, we are with our position.”
The conference talks are also centered on the state’s “preeminent” funding concept. a program created to provide additional resources to Florida’s leading universities—often tied to priorities like faculty hires and other initiatives.. The Senate’s proposal includes $100 million for the preeminent program, while the House wants to spend $0.
Lawmakers framing the dispute point to the underlying question of whether the state should emphasize operational support across higher education. or invest specifically in the institutions that hold—or are meant to hold—preeminent status.. House Higher Education Budget Subcommittee Chair Demi Busatta described the different approaches being debated.
“There’s different ways to fund our universities and also additionally our college system.. So sometimes it’s by increasing operational support, sometimes it’s through preeminence funding,” Busatta said.. “Obviously, the institutions that are preeminent still get to hold that title even if there isn’t preeminence funding.”
The universities watching the negotiations closely include the University of Florida. Florida State University. the University of South Florida. and Florida International University.. The University of Central Florida is also described as being on the way to officially be named a preeminent university.
Busatta suggested the two sides could still reach agreement. citing last year’s outcome as an example of how the Legislature moved before landing on preeminent funding.. “We started off in one place and we ended up somewhere different. where we did have preeminent funding in the end. ” Busatta said. adding that the Coral Gables Republican views the process as capable of change during bargaining.
Not all the proposals are contested, however. Both the House and Senate agree on spending $67.5 million for the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, a long-running policy that remains insulated from the most contentious negotiations.
Other initiatives are harder to reconcile. The House also proposed spending $300,000 on a controversial intellectual survey for the State University System of Florida to gauge whether students feel they can express their views on campus. The Senate did not support funding it.
With budget talks still underway after the missed deadline of the 60-day Regular Session. the higher education conference is effectively serving as a measuring stick for how far the House and Senate can converge—not just on total dollars. but on the philosophy of funding itself: broad support. targeted recruitment incentives. and whether preeminent institutions should receive additional dedicated resources.. Misryoum
higher education funding Florida budget conference Senate House split preeminent funding Bright Futures Tallahassee negotiations
so they just cant agree on anything down there huh
Wait so they already missed the deadline and NOW they wanna figure it out?? My kid is starting at USF in the fall and nobody knows what tuition is gonna look like this is so frustrating. They get paid to do this job and cant even pass a budget on time.
This is exactly what DeSantis wanted from the beginning honestly. He basically set this whole thing up to defund the regular state colleges so the money goes to like his favorite schools. I read somewhere that New College gets way more per student than any other school in Florida and nobody talks about it. The Senate is trying to stop it but the House is basically just doing whatever Tallahassee insiders want. And now they wanna move an entire campus to New College which makes zero sense geographically like those students dont even live near there. The whole thing smells corrupt to me and the media isnt covering it enough.
I thought Florida was supposed to have one of the better funded university systems in the south so why is it always a fight every single year. My nephew went to a state college here and said the buildings were falling apart so where is all this money even going when they do agree on it. 140 million difference doesnt even sound that much for a whole state budget but I guess it matters.