First, Gov. Rick Scott proposed a 10 percent budget cut to education funding. Then, the Florida House drafted a plan to slash per-student funding by 7.7 percent. On Thursday, the Senate unveiled its initial proposal -- with a 2.28 percent cut.

The Senate still makes serious cuts elsewhere, particularly to funding outside of the per-student measure, which is the money the state sends school districts based on their student population.

But the chamber wants to make the per-student pot and money for voluntary pre-kindergarten a priority, Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, told the Senate Pre-K-12 budget subcommittee Thursday.

"The House budget is significantly less than the Senate's proposed budget," Simmons said, calling it "roughly level funding" compared to last year.

More to come.