School districts in Alabama may soon be eligible to receive additional state funding if they extend their academic year under a newly proposed education bill.
House Bill 333, which is one of two education bills scheduled to be voted on Wednesday by the Alabama House Education Policy Committee, would establish the Alabama Modified School Calendar Grant Program, which would provide more funding for school districts that adopt an extended school calendar with a minimum of 30 additional days.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, who told Alabama Daily News that the bill was largely introduced to help reduce summer learning loss among students, as well as help working parents avoid additional childcare costs.
“Right now, the model we have is based upon the agrarian calendar, which has a long period off during the summer time, and of course we’re not really an agrarian society today,” Garrett said.
“With the way a lot of people live where the parents work (and) childcare becomes an issue for many, having that prolonged summer period can be a challenge for many people. Around the country, some districts are moving to having breaks throughout the year that No. 1, accommodate people’s lifestyles, (and) No. 2, eliminate that long period where you have that learning loss during the summer.”
A number of school districts across the country have recently implemented longer school year calendars, something Garrett referred to as “year-round school calendars,” including in Missouri, Texas and Virginia, all citing goals of improved academic performance. The Mobile County school district has also extended its school calendar, though under current law, receives no additional state funding for the additional days.
Garrett’s bill in no way would mandate schools extend their academic calendars, but would provide funding if they did.
“In a lot of inner city areas around the country, this is helpful because it keeps the children engaged, it takes care of some of the childcare needs that parents have (as) they’re not having to pay money for childcare for that long period of time,” Garrett said.
“During COVID when kids were not in school, there were a lot of problems with kids not being engaged; this (bill) gives some structure where they’re being engaged on a more routine basis.”
Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, is a co-sponsor of the bill, and told Alabama Daily News that in witnessing the success of Mobile County’s extended academic calendar, expanding the ability of other Alabama schools to extend their own calendar’s could lead to a significant improvement in students’ academic performance.
“One of the schools I met with in Mobile who has been doing this for several years, their teachers love it, their students love it, their achievement has improved… and they get a week off every month just about and still six weeks in the summer,” Collins said.
The funds for the grant program would come from the state’s Education Trust Fund, with the program going into effect by the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. School districts interested in being awarded the grants would need to submit an application including a rationale for adopting a modified school calendar, evidence of community support for such a modification, and a detailed budget of operating expenses.
Though the specifics regarding the amount of funding have yet to be finalized, the bill stipulates that the awarded amount would be based on a school’s enrollment.
Charter school law modifications
Another bill set to be voted on Wednesday is House Bill 363, legislation modifying the 2015 Alabama School Choice and Student Opportunity Act, which first authorized charter schools in the state.
Charter schools are public schools that are given special exemptions from education laws in order to enhance quality or specialize in a course of study – all in exchange for greater accountability.
Sponsored by Collins, HB363 would modify the Alabama Public Charter School Commission – which authorizes the conversion of traditional public schools to public charter schools – by changing the commission’s appointment process, providing additional guidelines for school conversions and enrollment, and by clarifying language related to funding for new charter schools.
Improving charter schools was a key message from Gov. Kay Ivey during her State of the State address in March, one of the many goals Collins’ bill is designed to deliver.
“Just like the governor mentioned in her state of the state address, there are governance changes that are needed (to the Charter School Commission),” Collins told Alabama Daily News. “(This bill) truly just adds a lot of accountability, a lot of transparency.”
Under existing law, Alabama charter schools are funded by federal and state funds.
Collins’ bill would not change the funding formula for charter schools, but would rather clarify the funding mechanisms for newly-converted charter schools during their first year of operation, funding the school “at the same level as the school was funded prior to conversion.”
The bill would also clarify funding for new charter school start-ups by ensuring federal and state funding would be sufficient enough to “reconcile the variance between anticipated and actual funded enrollment,” according to the bill.
The bill would also allow charter schools to give preference to children living within certain geographical boundaries as long as at-risk students remain the majority of a schools’ enrollment.
“(The bill) does broaden enrollment in that it says in a high-need area, those students would have a priority, and I think that’s a really good change,” Collins said.
“When you have more students apply than the school can hold, they use a lottery system to choose, which is how they’re doing it right now. This (bill) just says that they would weigh those local students so that those in the neighborhood would have a better chance of getting in those schools.”
The bill would also extend the term length of those sitting on the Charter School Commission from two to four years, require them to undergo additional annual training, and allow the commission to hire additional staff.
Ultimately, Collins said she hoped the bill would better equip the Charter School Commission, as well as help encourage public schools to consider converting to a charter school.
“We only have three conversion schools right now, they’re in Montgomery,” Collins said. “I’m hoping that just as we are trying to concentrate and improve our lowest-performing schools, that some of our systems may finally take advantage of that opportunity that’s actually been there since 2015.”
Both HB363 and HB333 will be discussed and voted on Wednesday by the House Education Policy Committee, which Collins chairs.