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The House and Senate remain about $140 million apart on higher education funding.
Lawmakers are deeply divided not only on the dollar amount, but also on the best funding mechanism to support higher education.
The Senate’s initial plan to fund the state’s state colleges and universities is about $9.05 billion, versus the House’s first offer of $8.91 billion.
The two sides are continuing to negotiate during budget talks that resumed this week in Tallahassee as lawmakers work to pass the budget, something they failed to do during the 60-day Regular Session.
The Senate wants to spend $90 million for the state colleges’ funding model and faculty recruitment/incentive, while the House slashed spending completely in its first offer.
In its first offer, the House proposes $84.2 million on the Board of Governors Educational Support Grant Program, while the Senate proposes $0.
After passing a failed bill in the 2026 Regular Session, the House is still pushing to transfer the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida, another issue being debated during the budget conference.
“At this point, we haven’t made a decision yet,” said Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee Chair Gayle Harrell. “We’re going to be looking at that issue seriously. At this point, we are with our position.”
To give an extra boost of money to Florida’s top schools for more faculty hires or other initiatives, the state created a preeminent funding program. The Senate proposes $100 million for that program, while the House wants to spend $0.
“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,” House Higher Education Budget Subcommittee Chair Demi Busatta told journalists earlier this week. “Obviously, the institutions that are preeminent still get to hold that title even if there isn’t preeminence funding.”
Those elite schools watching to see if their rewards are restored are the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of South Florida and Florida International University. The University of Central Florida is also on its way to officially be named a preeminent university.
Busatta signaled some hope that the two sides could reach an agreement, pointing to last year when the Legislature approved $40 million for preeminent schools to share.
“We started off in one place and we ended up somewhere different, where we did have preeminent funding in the end,” said Busatta, a Coral Gables Republican.
The House also proposed spending $300,000 on a controversial intellectual survey for the State University System of Florida to gauge if students feel they can express their views on campus. The Senate did not support funding it.
But not everything is being contested.
For instance, both sides agree on spending $67.5 million on the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.
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