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Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Kay Ivey signs 2026 ETF, General Fund budgets
Gov. Kay Ivey delivers the State of the State address to the Alabama Legislature in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Ivey on Tuesday said she had signed the state's two budgets into law. (Will McLelland for Alabama Reflector) Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday signed Alabama's budgets for the 2026 fiscal year. The Education Trust Fund (ETF) will provide nearly $10 billion in funding for the state's various education programs and agencies, and is a 6% increase over the previous year. The General Fund budget totals $3.7 billion for the 2026 fiscal year, a 10% increase ($347 million) over the current budget. Both budgets go into effect on Oct. 1. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Ivey said in a statement that the budgets are an investment in the state's education. 'The budgets we made official this morning will continue investing in proven programs like the Literacy and Numeracy Acts. It will support our Turnaround Schools initiative to target some of our lowest performing schools. It will continue allowing these successful education reform policies to take shape while taking an active approach to do everything we can to support students, teachers and parents,' Ivey said in a statement. The ETF budget includes a $99.2 million increase for the Public Education Employees' Health Insurance Plan. There are no pay raises for education employees in the budget. It also includes $9.6 million to support a newly enacted parental leave policy for state and education staff and $15.6 million designated for an employee injury compensation program. It includes significant funding boosts for key programs: AMSTI would increase by 31% ($32.2 million), ARI by 6.4% ($9 million) and transportation by approximately 9.1% ($40 million). The budget also provides $180 million for the CHOOSE Act, a voucher-like program that provides tax credits for nonpublic education expenses, including private school tuition. The program was initially slated to receive $100 million. Over two-thirds of applicants for the CHOOSE Act come from private schools or are homeschooled. The General Fund budget includes a $223.8 million (19%) increase over the current year for the Medicaid Agency, totaling $1.18 billion; a $90.1 million (11%) increase for the Alabama Department of Corrections, for a total of $826.7 million; a $4.7 million (3%) increase for the Alabama Department of Human Resources, totaling $148.9 million; and a $4.7 million (2%) increase for the Alabama Department of Mental Health, totally $244 million. Funding for the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles was reduced from $94.5 million to $90.6 million, a 4.1% decrease, in the Senate due to some lawmakers' concerns over low parole rates and responsiveness from board members. The amendment also made the board's funding conditional on the development of parole release guidelines. The board has faced criticism for significantly lower parole rates since 2017. The state is also increasing its contribution to employee health insurance. For each education employee, the PEEHIP contribution will go up from $800 to $904, and the SEIB contribution for each state employee will increase from $997 to $1,025. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama House passes $10 billion education budget
Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, presents the proposed 2026 Education Trust Fund budget in the Alabama House of Representatives on April 24, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The budget passed the chamber on a 103-0 vote. It will next go to the Senate, which approved the budget earlier this month, for concurrence with House changes or a conference committee. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives passed a package of education funding bills Thursday, including a nearly $10 billion 2026 Education Trust Fund budget (ETF). SB 112, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, allocates $9.9 billion for K-12 schools and higher education, a 6% increase over the current budget. The House Ways and Means Education Committee approved the budget on Tuesday. 'This was an important budget. I think the members understood it, but the work got done,' Garrett said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The budget also includes $135 million for the CHOOSE Act, a voucher-like program that will award students with funds to be used for education-related expenses, including private school tuition. The program was initially slated to get $100 million, but Garrett said that because of the nearly 37,000 applications there needed to be more money for qualifying students. 'We have had such an enormous response to the application process. So there were a lot of moving pieces here,' Garrett said after the House adjourned. The program is currently limited to special needs students and those making under 300% of the poverty line, about $79,950 for a family of three. The program will be open to all applicants starting in 2027, without any income limits. About two-thirds of the 37,000 applicants for the program this year are already in private school or homeschooled. The budget also includes a $99.2 million increase for the Public Education Employees' Health Insurance Plan. There are no pay raises for education employees in the budget. Garrett said they also had to allocate funds for educator workmen's compensation and paid parental leave. 'So we had a lot of things in the budget, but the good news was we had adequate reserves. We had limited our budget growth every year for the past several years,' he said. The budget passed 103-0 with a House committee substitute. It moves to the Senate for concurrence or conference committee. The Senate approved the budget on April 10. Garrett said one of his priorities in the budget is continuing to invest in public education in the state. SB 305, also sponsored by Orr, allows the Legislature to appropriate additional funds to schools based on student needs. The House added an additional $58 million to begin the transition to the new model. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to Gov. Kay Ivey to be signed into law. SB 111, also sponsored by Orr, would appropriate $375 million over three years for that transition, which aims to get more money to students with particular needs, including children in poverty and English Language Learners. 'Every district can report how many students they have that are in the poverty definition, how many are in special education, how many are English as a second language,' he said. 'And what we will do is allocate this additional pot of money to those districts based upon that weight.' Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, supported the weighted funding model. Under the legislation, Montgomery County Schools will receive $7.7 million with most coming from the 2.5% weight for poverty. 'I know students in Montgomery Public Schools are going to be better off because of this,' Ensler said. The bill passed 103-0 with a House committee substitute that added $80 million to the Education Opportunity Reserve Fund for the CHOOSE Act. It goes to the Senate for concurrence or conference committee. The Senate adjourned Thursday before final approval of the budgets, so its consideration was not possible Thursday. The House also passed SB 113, also sponsored by Orr, which is the $524 million 2025 supplemental appropriation for education. It passed 103-0 with a House committee substitute that added funds for various needs. It also passed with a floor amendment from Garrett that changed language to clarify funding for dual enrollment programs. It moves to the Senate for concurrence or conference committee. The House also passed SB 114, also sponsored by Orr, which is the $1.25 billion supplemental appropriation for the Advancement and Technology budget. It passed 103-0 with a House committee substitute that added a $100 million grant to create career technical programs in areas of the state that do not have one already. It moves to the Senate for concurrence or conference committee. Garrett said that he hopes the creation of the programs will improve Alabama's labor participation rate. The state ranks 47th in labor participation at 57.8%, according to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee. 'These initiatives that we've undertaken, through improving education, through increasing the Career Tech opportunities and collaboration with community colleges, all of that,' he said. 'If that drives that labor participation rate up, the state is in a really good position.' House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, commended the budget committee and Garrett for their work on the budget. 'This was a great deal. Chairman Garrett did outstanding. His committee works hard, and the work showed that today,' Ledbetter said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
