2021 budget

Top Republican leaders in the Florida House and Senate acknowledged there could be health care cuts as they struggle to craft a balanced budget amid the economic wreckage caused by the coronavirus.

The requests would bring K-12 funding to a record high of $22.8 billion and raise per-student funding by $233 to $8,019.

The governor did not recommend Medicaid rate cuts for nursing homes or hospitals, pleasing those facilities. But other groups said the plan falls short in funding for people with developmental disabilities.

Florida lawmakers return to Tallahassee in March facing at least a $2 billion budget shortfall. And that’s despite an infusion of more than $6 billion in federal money aimed at helping the state weather the coronavirus pandemic.

While they didn’t go as far as the governor’s office wanted, Florida economists Monday shrank a projected revenue reduction lawmakers will confront when they hammer out the next budget.

As lawmakers prepare to grapple with the budget during the 2021 legislative session, Senate President Wilton Simpson has raised the possibility of increasing college and university tuition to help hold the line on other programs.

President Trump proposed steep cuts to foreign aid and other programs in his budget for fiscal year 2021. The blueprint is expected to be declared dead on arrival in Congress.