DeSantis Hands Pasco-Hernando State College $3 Million to Train the Next Generation of Aircraft Mechanics
The governor's 2019 workforce bet keeps paying out: $3 million heads to PHSC's new Airframe and Powerplant program at the Brooksville-Tampa regional airport.
BROOKSVILLE, FLA. — Governor Ron DeSantis came to Pasco-Hernando State College Wednesday with a check — a $3 million award from the state’s Job Growth Grant Fund earmarked for the school’s new Airframe and Powerplant program, FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported.
The program, housed at the Brooksville-Tampa regional airport, will train aircraft mechanics side by side with the college’s aviation students.
Where the Money Goes
The $3 million will fund the renovation and build-out of classrooms and labs at the airport site, purchase the tools and instructional technology needed for hands-on training, and relocate the school’s original pilot program to the regional airport campus, according to FOX 13.
School officials said the investment expands the college’s capacity to meet regional workforce demand and positions graduates for high-skill, high-demand aviation careers.
Translation? Hernando County kids will be able to walk out of a state college and into an aircraft hangar — no four-year degree, no six-figure student loan balance required.
A Bet DeSantis Made in 2019
The governor used the Brooksville stop to look back at the Job Growth Grant Fund he touted at the start of his first term, which was built to expand high school career programs, apprenticeships, and manufacturing partnerships across the state.
Since then, the fund has bankrolled a wide expansion of workforce training — everything from commercial truck driving credentials to aerospace programs, the governor said. Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas put the fund’s cumulative awards at $12 billion, per FOX 13.
DeSantis framed the grant as part of a broader push to give students options beyond the traditional college track, saying it “doesn’t have to be four-year brick and ivy universities” — apprenticeships, high school certifications, and the state college system all count.
He also made the blunt economic case for the trades: whatever the future holds, air conditioners will keep breaking, and somebody has to fix them.
Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner — a PHSC alum — told the crowd the growth fund and programs like it have spent years leveling the playing field for students who don’t take the university route.
Sourcing: FOX 13 Tampa Bay coverage of the June 10, 2026 press conference in Brooksville.
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