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Alabama House adopts record $9.3 billion education budget

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama House adopted a record-high $9.3 billion education budget Tuesday for fiscal year 2025, a $550 million increase over this year’s budget. 

Members also adopted two supplemental education spending bills totaling more than $1.6 billion that would affect the current fiscal year, $1 billion of which would be directed toward local boards of education and public universities.

The proposals now go to the Senate.

Carried by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, the massive 2025 education budget closely aligned with Gov. Kay Ivey’s own recommended education spending plan, and included a number of spending increases for educational initiatives, as well as for public universities and schools.

Among those educational initiatives was an increase to the state’s First Class Pre-K program to $200 million.

“This budget, which is $9.3 billion, will allow Alabama’s nationally recognized First Class Pre-K program to… allow 45% of eligible four year olds statewide to participate in pre-K,” Garrett said. 

“The current grant structure does not cover the full cost of First Class Pre-K, so we’re making changes in this budget that, over time on a phased-in approach, will ensure funding programs do not charge tuition so that parents do not bear the costs to start pre-K.”

Rep. Danny Garrett speaks on the Alabama House floor, April 16.

Also included in the bill substitute was a $390 million increase for K-12 schools, an increase that Garrett said would fund a reading coach to operate in every school, and in every school system, mental health coordinators, career coaches, and technology coordinators.

Bringing total K-12 school funding to $6.3 billion, the additional $390 million would also increase starting pay for teachers to the “highest among neighboring states,” Garrett said, bringing starting salaries to $47,600, or $50,521 for math and science teachers. The $390 million would also provide funding to hire more than 200 new assistant principals.

The education budget proposal, particularly when it came to the $6.3 billion for K-12 schools, had gotten the support of Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey, who told Alabama Daily News Tuesday that he was particularly excited about the increased funding for teacher salaries.

“It invests in teachers, It invests in the classroom, it invests more money in professional development for our administrators, (and) it guarantees that we don’t lose the high-quality summer reading and math camps that we’ve been funding with federal funds,” Mackey said.

Other notable inclusions in the $9.3 billion budget include a new $1 million line item to fund a pre-K pilot program for 50 pre-K centers in Montgomery, $48 million to fund the Literacy Act, $28 million to fund the Numeracy Act, and additional funding for ESL aids, struggling readers beyond 3rd grade, and a 2% pay increase for education support personnel.

The bill ultimately passed in the House with a vote of 102-1, with newly-elected Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville, being the sole dissenting vote.

Lands later told ADN that she voted against the 2025 education budget over a $701,541 cut in funding to the Alabama Public Library Service, which lawmakers had previously said they intended on redirecting to reading programs.

Rep. Marilyn Lands on the Alabama House floor, April 16.

Lands’ no vote was meant to show solidarity with Alabama’s library system, she said, which has been under increased pressure in recent months from Ivey and several lawmakers over its affiliation with the American Library Association, a national organization the APLS ultimately cut ties with.

House members also adopted two supplemental bills that would provide education funding for the current fiscal year; House Bills 147 and 144.

At $1 billion, HB147 is a one-time Advancement and Technology Fund appropriation bill that would allocate funding to public schools and colleges based on enrollment, and was $300 million more than what Ivey had recommended. Increased allocations to universities and schools accounted for the bulk of the $300 million increase when compared to Ivey’s proposal.

At $651.2 million, HB144 is another supplemental one-time appropriation bill that would fund various education agencies and initiatives. While the dollar figure remained unchanged from Ivey’s proposal, approximately $260 million of the $651.2 million was modified.

Garrett noted some of the larger modifications to HB144 when compared to Ivey’s proposal, including $109 million being allocated to local boards of education, $22 million to increase school nurse salaries, and $17 million for Career & College Readiness grants, something championed by Mackey and other educators.

“Alabama’s economy is doing good and it shows in the budget,” Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, told Alabama Daily News after the House adjourned. 

“The House and the Senate have been real conservative in their spending, and that shows, so I was proud to pass out the largest education budget we’ve ever had. It certainly shows that we make public education a priority.”

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