The Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday passed an education budget package that allocates more than $11 billion to elementary and secondary schools, two-year college systems, technical schools, state universities and other state agencies.

Most of the legislation in the education budget package was endorsed by state Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, whose committee is tasked with writing the House version of the budget.

“I am proud that the House has advanced a record-breaking Education Trust Fund budget for the sixth consecutive year,” said House Speaker Nathaniel D. Leadbetter said:

“At more than $9.3 billion, this historic budget meets the critical needs of our K-12 system, fully funds literacy and math, and provides well-deserved pay increases for teachers. Additionally, it provides funding for reading coaches, career coaches and mental health coordinators in every school system. By investing in our students' education today, we will ensure a brighter Alabama tomorrow,” said Rep. Ledbetter (R-Rainsville).

The first bill to adopt this approach was House Bill 147. This is a supplemental appropriation from the Technology Advancement Fund, which is the continuing reserve fund in the education budget. There is a surplus in the reserve fund because no appropriations were made in the FY2024 budget.

“The governor has put forward a $700 million budget for this supplement,” Garrett explained, “and I'm going to propose a grant to bring that up to $1 billion.”

Rep. Juandalyn Givan (D-Birmingham) told Garrett, “You've done an outstanding job. The speaker made a great decision to appoint you as budget chairman.”

“I'm a proud Tuskegee graduate. How do we increase the budget?” asked Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham).

“We need to talk about that,” Garrett responded. “We're going to increase our grant to Tuskegee University by $5 million.”

Garrett explained that the state has $1.75 billion in reserves, of which he is proposing to spend $1 billion this year.

“We didn't spend any of the Technology Acceleration Fund last year,” Garrett continued. “The governor asked for $700 million, and we're increasing it by $300 million to $1 billion.”

“Tomorrow I will introduce legislation to end the bad (higher ed) loan program. Will you address that funding in this budget?” Givan asked.

“We are addressing this in the amendment,” Garrett explained.

The Distressed Higher Education Loan Program was created to save the struggling private school Birmingham-Southern College (BSC). State Treasurer Young Boozer determined that the loans posed a financial risk to the state and announced that the college would terminate the loans on May 31.

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“Every year, we step up our efforts to help Alabama’s kids stay competitive,” said Rep. Mary Moore.

HB 147 passed as amended, 102-0.

HB144 is additional funding from a budget surplus carried over from 2023 because revenues exceeded the Legislature's projections. The state has carried over a budget surplus in each of the past five years.

Garrett explained that the commission accepted the governor's request for $651 million, but the commission reallocated some funds from the governor's request and added some projects.

Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville) offered an amendment to allocate $30 million to a summer meal program for students, which Garrett explained was originally a federal COVID-19 program that Alabama did not participate in last year.

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“I urge you to table this motion,” Garrett said. “It's hard to recommend something you don't understand.”

The motion to introduce the Hall amendment passed roughly along party lines.

House Majority Leader Scott Staddagen (R-Hartselle) offered an amendment on the floor to move $15 million from the lieutenant governor's grants program to community service grants that lawmakers award to projects in their districts. The amendment passed unanimously.

Bracy offered an amendment to transfer $1 million from the HBCU Deferred Maintenance Program to Alabama State University, which also passed. HB144 passed 103-0 as amended.

Rep. Cynthia Almond (R-Tuscaloosa) has introduced a bill to establish a boarding high school in Demopolis for students aiming to become health care workers.

“It has been my honor and privilege to introduce the Alabama Health Sciences Act,” Almond said. “For the past two years, Governor Ivey has made this a priority.”

Demopolis' medical high school would be similar to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science and the Alabama School of Cyber ​​Technology. This bill also passed.

HB145 is the actual ETF budget for 2025. Garrett said the budget is a 6.5% increase, which is the maximum amount the Legislature can increase the ETF under the Rolling Reserve Act.

He explained that this includes $200 million for preschool, providing a reading coach to every school, providing an assistant principal to every school with over 300 students, fully funding literacy, fully funding math, giving education workers a 2% pay raise, making Alabama's teacher starting salaries the highest in the Southeast, and providing $2.4 billion for higher education.

HB145 passed 102 to 1. HB146, a bill to increase education workers' salaries by 2%. It passed unanimously.

“That's a 2 percent increase for education workers,” said Rep. Barbara Drummond (D-Mobile). “The cost of this increase is $104.5 million.”

HB148 provides funding for Tuskegee University. HB149 provides funding for Talladega College. HB150 provides funding for Southern Preparatory Academy. All passed unanimously.

“My number one priority as ETF chairman will be providing Alabama's K-12 education system with the tools it needs to be successful, while remaining mindful of the state's future needs,” said Chairman Garrett.

“I am proud that our conservative approach paves the way for historic new investments in public education while preparing for the tough economic times ahead.”

Alabama has an arcane budgeting system that consists of two budgets: the ETF and the State General Fund (SGF) budget, which funds state agencies outside of education. The Senate passed the SGF package on Thursday. The SGF was proposed by state Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), who serves as chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee.

The education budget package bill now heads to the Senate, where it will be assigned to the Senate Finance, Taxation and Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur).

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