Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced $27 million in Public School and College Authority funding Wednesday, with $22 million for Auburn University and $5 million for the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences.
The funding is intended to support capital expenses at public K-12 schools and universities. This round of funding was made available through interest accrued from the first distribution in 2020, according to a press release about the announcement.
“The Public School and College Authority funding allows us to make generational investments in the classrooms that are fostering future generations,” Ivey said. “There is simply no task more important than equipping our young people with the best opportunities to succeed. I am proud to award my alma mater, Auburn University, as well as the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences funding that will help them prepare our students for promising futures.”
Auburn will use the funding to establish the Kay Ivey Institute for Civic Leadership, the university announced Wednesday. The institute is designed to “extend Auburn’s commitment to preparing students for lives of character, informed citizenship and responsible leadership, while creating an educational legacy for students, communities and the nation.”
The university said in a news release that the institute’s academic direction, programming and long-term priorities will be developed in the coming months.
Jimmy Rane, Auburn trustee and chair of the Trustees’ Governmental Affairs Committee, called the announcement a “remarkable moment” for Auburn and the state. The institute will embody Auburn’s guiding values of “love of country, strength of character and a commitment to serving something greater than oneself,” Rane said.
“I’ve had the privilege of calling Kay Ivey a friend since our days as students at Auburn, and I’ve watched with great admiration as she has devoted so much of her life to serving our state and its people,” Rane said in the release. “I can think of no more fitting way to honor her extraordinary legacy than through an institute dedicated to preparing future generations for lives of responsible citizenship and leadership.”
Ivey, Alabama’s longest continuously serving governor, graduated from Auburn in 1967. Before her time as the state’s top executive, Ivey served as lieutenant governor and state treasurer.
On the other side of the state, the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences will use part of its $5 million in funding to continue constructing the school’s permanent 10-acre campus in Demopolis, Head of School Laura Bailey told Alabama Daily News in a statement.
The school is temporarily operating in Livingston in Sumter County with its first cohort of students. School officials say the new campus will open in the summer of 2027.
“From the moment Gov. Ivey and the Alabama Legislature approved the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, they have backed that vision with meaningful investment,” Bailey said. “This additional funding brings us closer to opening our permanent campus and preparing students from across Alabama for careers in healthcare. We are grateful for their continued confidence in our school and its role in strengthening Alabama’s healthcare workforce.”
The Ivey administration has awarded more than $1.9 billion in PSCA funds during the governor’s tenure.