Governor’s executive budget emphasizes education, reserves, transportation and public defense funding

Laurie Wolf, administrator of the Division of Financial Management, presented Governor Brad Little’s executive budget to the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee on Tuesday, outlining the administration’s revenue forecasts, proposed transfers, reserves and spending priorities for fiscal years 2025–26.

The governor’s package is “a keeping promises budget,” Wolf said, and the administration emphasized a conservative revenue forecast, a structural balance and higher ending balances while recommending targeted investments in education, transportation, workforce training, natural resources and public safety.

Key numbers and fiscal approach: Wolf said the administration used a conservative revenue projection for FY 2026 and aimed to preserve structural balance. For FY 2025 the administration estimated total revenue of about $5.9 billion and a projected ending balance of roughly $383 million; for FY 2026 the combined revenue projection was about $6.2 billion with a projected ending balance of about $227 million after recommended transfers. The plan includes a proposed $59 million transfer toward the budget stabilization fund and $50 million to the public education stabilization fund in FY 2026, leaving a revert/reserve balance Wolf described as the largest in state history at about $1.4 billion (roughly 22% of the budget).

Education and workforce: The governor recommended about…