The Alabama Senate on Thursday passed a $9.3 billion education budget that includes teacher pay raises and budget increases, making it the largest education budget in state history.

The Senate also passed an additional $651 million in funding. All public schools, universities and colleges in the state will receive the additional funding in the coming weeks.

The House has already passed the education budget. It will now be sent back to the House for Senate consideration for changes. If approved and signed by Governor Kay Ivey, the budget will go into effect on October 1.

The education budget and supplemental budget were introduced by state Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, and in the Senate they will be introduced by Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), chairman of the Senate Finance, Taxation and Education Committee.

The Senate budget is $9,348,506,169, an increase of $549,912,128 from last year.

• K-12 schools will receive $6,365,972,327, an increase of $376,760,340.
• Higher education will receive $2,397,664,702, an increase of $140,695,664 over 2024.
• There are numerous state agencies that are funded at least in part through the Education Trust Fund, including the Legislature itself, whose expenditures total $584,869,140, ​​an increase of $32,456,124 over 2024.
• 70.64% of the budget goes to K-12 and 27.36% to higher education. The allocations for K-12 and higher education are essentially unchanged from the FY2024 budget.

The Senate version of the bill adds funding to provide meals to children attending school over the summer, a federal coronavirus relief program that Congress ended funding for, giving states the option to take over and fund the program.

“I appreciate the work of Feeding Kids,” said State Senator Roger Smitherman, “and the kids who will go hungry this summer don't have lobbyists.”

The state also provides funding to private schools: Talladega College, Tuskegee Institute, and Southern Preparatory School (formerly Lyman Ward).

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