DAVENPORT, FL – Polk State College is celebrating a major milestone after Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s 2026 state budget, securing the remaining funding needed to complete the new Polk State Haines City-Davenport Campus. The budget includes approximately $7.6 million for the new campus, while also maintaining the College’s operational budget and providing approximately $25.3 million to renovate the Lakeland Learning Center on the Lakeland Campus.
The Haines City-Davenport Campus is expected to open for the Spring 2027 semester and will become the primary home for Polk State’s Health Sciences programs. The approximately $51 million, 75,000-square-foot facility will feature Central Florida’s first public higher education interdisciplinary simulation hospital, providing students with advanced, hands-on healthcare training.
The project represents a vision more than two decades in the making. Polk State purchased the 7.8-acre site along U.S. Highway 27 in 2009 following a needs assessment conducted in 2006. The project previously received $13.2 million in state Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funding in 2022 and an additional $8.1 million in 2024. The Barnett family donated $3 million toward the project, while the Polk State College Foundation raised approximately $300,000 through A Night of Legacy. The Foundation also launched a capital campaign in January 2026 to raise additional funding for advanced technology, specialized equipment, and long-term program support.
The state budget also includes approximately $25.3 million to renovate the Lakeland Learning Center. Planned improvements include modernized classrooms and laboratories, upgraded student support spaces, energy-efficient roofing and HVAC systems, enhanced wireless and instructional technology, and renovations to the library, tutoring center, and outdoor courtyard.
Established in 1964, Polk State College serves more than 14,000 students across multiple campuses and provides workforce training to approximately 9,000 individuals annually.
SOURCE: Polk State College
