Latest news with #RAISEAct
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What to know about Alabama laws taking effect
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — With her signature, Gov. Kay Ivey changed the way schools are funded in Alabama and created some new regulations. Several of those laws have gone into effect this week. Lawmakers said there's a few things to know about these acts. One law drops the grocery tax from 3% to 2%, which will start in September. State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said it would be an extra dollar off of a $100 grocery tab. Including 2023's tax cut, that's a 50% slash on what used to be a 4% tax on groceries overall. 'Obviously, everyone has to eat, and they eat groceries, consume groceries,' Orr said. 'Therefore, the grocery tax seemed like the most logical place to continue letting Alabamians keep more of their hard-earned dollars.' Grocery shoppers aren't the only ones who will get more bang for their buck. The RAISE Act will now fund schools based on the kinds of needs students have. No active shooter incidents reported in Alabama in 2024: FBI Before, schools were just funded based on headcount. The needs now considered for school funding include English-language learners, gifted students, those with special needs and low-income students. 'Those schools are going to get more money just for your child to try to make a difference in their education, and that's the exciting part' said state Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur. State Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, agrees. She said students need this change. 'That's our future,' Drummond said. 'It's time that we invest. We know where the problems are, and the RAISE Act is going to help us address those issues.' Drummond's effort to crack down on nicotine products also went into effect this week. The law requires tobacco retailers to purchase a license to sell products. Drummond said it also requires students to learn about the harms of vaping. 'I want us to save lives and to prevent young people from hurting their bodies in the future,' Drummond said. 'So this is all about welfare of our young people in the state of Alabama.' Another law that's gone into effect allows the Alabama Farmers Federation to offer health care plans to its members. The original sponsor of the bill, state Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, said it will lower health care costs for farmers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama House of Representatives passes Education Trust Fund Budget for 2026
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Alabama House of Representatives has passed the Education Trust Fund (ETF) Budget and its supplemental appropriation for Fiscal Year 26. 'As Alabama continues to make remarkable strides in public education, it's vital that lawmakers in Montgomery remain committed to equipping our school systems with the necessary resources to help students thrive,' said Speaker Ledbetter (R-Rainsville). 'This year's ETF is significant for several reasons. It funds paid parental leave for teachers, expands summer and afterschool programs, and increases funding for the Alabama numeracy act, which has been a catalyst for our state's nation-leading gains in 4th grade math. We're making another strong investment in the CHOOSE Act, Alabama's school choice program that is proving to be in high demand. Finally, we are creating the RAISE Program, a student-weighted funding model that funds schools based on their specific needs rather than headcount.' ETF/Supplemental Highlights Include the following: $27 million increase for the Numeracy Act $14.4 million increase for Summer/Afterschool Programs $9.6 million for Paid Parental Leave $15.6 million for Teachers Workman's Compensation $58 million for the RAISE Act $80 million increase for the CHOOSE Act 'I'm proud to have passed another strong Education Budget that positions our school systems for success,' said Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), who chairs the House Ways and Means Education Committee. 'For the first time ever, we are funding schools based off the needs of the specific students they serve instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach and funding on headcount alone. We're also making significant investments in programs supporting teachers and students. Public education is on the rise in Alabama, and I believe that the passage of this budget will help us continue moving in the right direction.' The Education Trust Fund will now return to the Senate floor for concurrence. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate unanimously approves overhaul of K-12 school funding
Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee Chair Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, speaks on a bill in the Alabama Senate on April 3, 2025 in Montgomery, Ala. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Senate Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would revamp the way the state funds public K-12 schools. SB 305, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would establish the Renewing Alabama's Investment in Student Excellence (RAISE) program along with a dedicated Fund to move the state toward a funding model aimed at getting more resources to special needs students. 'We took a big step as a state today in that we established this RAISE Act fund, because we're acknowledging that it does take more to educate children in poverty, or English language learners or special education students or gifted students,' Orr said after the vote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill would transition to a formula meant to support students with greater needs through an updated funding structure. Alabama currently allocates funds based on a formula that ties funding more to headcount than student needs. Most states have weighted funding for different student needs. 'We want to provide more resources to our education community, our K-12 education communities and schools and get them help to do the job that they have to do with additional resources, and that's important,' Orr said. Under the proposed system, schools would receive supplemental funds, or 'weights,' based on the number of students they enroll who fall into specific categories, including poverty, special education, English language learners, gifted status, and those attending charter schools. The exact amount of additional funding generated per student would depend on the category and would be determined annually in the state's Education Trust Fund budget, subject to available funding. The Senate also approved a related bill to shift $375 million from the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund — a state savings account for education built from budget surpluses — into the newly proposed RAISE Fund. According to Orr, this amount is intended to fund the program for its initial three years. 'If the Legislature does its part over the years, slowly increasing that funding amount, I see much better things in the public education system in our state,' he said, adding that 'if the locals will use the money wisely and use it to make good choices, that will move the needle for students.' Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, asked Orr why charter schools were included in the weights, saying there are greater needs. Orr said that, unlike public school systems, charter schools don't typically get local funding, and if they do, it's not much. Orr said the weighted funding would help 'make up for the loss of local funds.' 'In the same spirit, why can't we give some of that money to the public school that's got the D to pull it up, instead of kicking it to the curve and sayiing, 'We got to bring something else in new, because we got a D situation,'' Smitherman said. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
A Second Trump Shock To Programs For Seniors And People With Disabilities
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's Secretary of Health ... More and Human Services testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing. (Photo by) The Trump Administration has cut by more than 40 percent the staff that oversees critical federal programs for older adults and younger people with disabilities who live at home. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the staffers who manage and review federal grants to state and local governments and community-based organizations for programs such as Meals on Wheels. It also eliminated regional office positions, along with those who evaluate the benefits of those programs and communicate the office's work to grantees and the public at-large. Those staff reductions came just four days after Kennedy abolished the office that managed those programs, called the Administration for Community Living. ACL, which had a staff of about 200 at the beginning of the year, manages critical programs such as Meals on Wheels, senior center nutrition, falls and elder abuse prevention, transportation, area agencies on aging, and family caregiver supports. All are aimed at making it possible for people with chronic conditions to remain at home and avoid institutional care. The result: While Kennedy says he wants to refocus health policy on chronic disease, his cuts are likely to make life worse for those with chronic conditions and end up costing the medical system more money. Addressing chronic diseases not only means prevention or treatment, it also requires supporting those living with these conditions. Kennedy said in late March he would split ACL's responsibilities among three entities in the Department of Health and Human Services: the Administration for Families and Children, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Evaluation, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However, Kennedy also made deep staff cuts at ACF and abolished ASPE, leaving staffers uncertain about how these programs will operate. The Trump Administration has not stopped funding the programs administered by ACL, many of which are included in the Older Americans Act. ACL also manages the RAISE Act, which helps coordinate a broad range of federal programs for older adults and people with disabilities. However, funding for those programs is in jeopardy as the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans look to cut domestic spending to help fund planned tax cuts. While Kennedy did not formally cut spending for the programs managed by ACL, it is hard to see how they will continue to operate without staff to manage grants and other agreements with those who run OAA programs day-to-day. For example, how will a contract get renewed if there is no staff to measure its success and review the application? Abolishing ACL and firing nearly half its staff was part of a broader move by the Trump Administration to eliminate a total of about 20,000 HHS positions, about one-quarter of its total staff. Roughly 10,000 resigned, many under pressure, before the latest announcement. Kennedy's purge at ACL seems contrary to his goal of refocusing HHS on chronic disease. In the press release announcing that he was abolishing ACL, Kennedy said, 'We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic.' Yet, all of those who will lose benefits from Kennedy's decisions are living with some form of chronic disease. It may be conditions that mostly affect older adults, such as arthritis, heart disease, dementia, or Parkinson's disease. Or it may be conditions that generally affect people at birth, such as Down's syndrome, autism, or cystic fibrosis. By making separate cuts to National Institutes of Health funding, Kennedy is curbing research that could prevent or treat some of these conditions. By slashing offices such as ACL, he is making it more difficult for people with these conditions to live as well as possible. At the same time, Kennedy's choices will increase government costs, not reduce them. To the degree the Trump Administration is worried about cost savings, cutting supports to people of all ages with disabilities living at home will be counterproductive. For example, as many as half of older adults who are seen in hospital emergency departments may be either malnourished of at risk for malnutrition. The cost for treating those with malnutrition: nearly $160 billion. Even when programs such as Meals on Wheels and senior center meals programs had support in Washington, funding shortages meant older adults often waited to receive home delivered meals. In West Virginia, for example, roughly 1000 older adults are on a waiting list for the program. Trump's cuts to ACL will only worsen this situation, put more of those with chronic disease at risk, and increase costs to Medicare, which will pay when an older adult or younger person with a disability suffers a preventable medical event, such as a fall or malnutrition, and lands in an emergency department or is admitted to a hospital. Abolishing ACL and firing nearly half its staff will harm millions of older adults, people with disabilities, and their families with no obvious benefit to other taxpayers.
Forbes
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Trump Abolishes The Office That Supports Many Seniors And People With Disabilities
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 27: A Meals On Wheels of San Francisco driver loads meals into a van. ... More (Photo by) The Trump Administration is abolishing the office that manages and coordinates most federal programs for older adults and younger people with disabilities who live at home. At the same time, it is restructuring two offices that provide independent evaluation and analysis of patient safety and long-term care. The elimination of the Administration for Community Living (ACL) will be a major blow to older adults and people with disabilities. It manages most federal supports, other than Medicaid and subsidized housing, for older adults living in non-institutional settings. 'This is part of a bigger assault on older adults,' says Alison Barkoff, who led ACL during the Biden Administration. 'ACL serves as a hub for programs that benefit older adults and people with disabilities.' Many programs ACL oversees are funded through the Older Americans Act, the umbrella law that includes Meals on Wheels, adult day, area agencies on aging, falls and elder abuse prevention, and respite care. ACL also manages the RAISE Act that aims to coordinate all federal programs that support family caregivers. That effort includes creation of a national strategy to support those families. (Full disclosure: I serve on an advisory committee to one of those initiatives). Abolishing ACL won't end funding for Older Americans Act programs or RAISE, though Congress could cut their budgets later this year as part of broader Republican effort to cut domestic spending. The bigger immediate problem will be that those older adults and people with disabilities who are not on Medicaid will lose critical advocates within the federal government. Programs that assist these vulnerable populations may take a back seat as HHS sets priorities in the Trump Administration. 'Older adults and people with disabilities are losing their champions,' says one person familiar with ACL. Breaking up the office also will end efforts to combine federal programs for older adults and younger people with disabilities. Historically, they operated separately, resulting in inefficient program duplication and deeply dividing advocacy groups. In 2012, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius created ACL by merging the Administration on Aging, the Office on Disability, and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities into a single unit. Her idea: Support people living independently at home, no matter the cause of their disability. ACL did not fully resolve conflicts among the disability and aging communities but it helped limit them. And, as Barkoff told me, 'It created synergies and efficiencies among federal programs.' Under Trump's plan, ACL will be broken up and its work divided among three different offices at HHS: the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The announcement did not say how ACL's duties would be split up. But one source expects ACF likely will inherit responsibility for disability programs. The problem is that ACF focuses almost entirely on the needs of children and is unlikely to make people with disabilities a priority. Many programs for older adults may be shifted to CMS. This would create a similar problem: While Medicare staffers know about the health needs of seniors and Medicaid staffers are very familiar with long-term care of low-income people, neither has a background in social supports for older adults who have substantial personal care needs but are not poor. Staffs at Medicare and Medicaid already struggle to work together. Bringing an entirely new set of responsibilities into CMS likely will make funding for important services less efficient, not more. The other major change that could impact older adults: The Administration will eliminate two important research shops at HHS, the office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. They'd be merged into a new Office of Strategy. ASPE evaluates long-term care needs and aging services programs. AHRQ, which already was targeted for deep staff cuts, does important research in patient safety and quality, calling out areas of concern and best practice solutions. Both are highly regarded for their research quality and independence. The Trump Administration already has curbed independent research at other agencies, including the Department of Education and the IRS. Experts fear the same will happen at HHS. All these decisions were announced by Robert F Kennedy Jr., Trump's Secretary of HHS. It was part of a broader initiative to cut a total of 20,000 workers at the department, which includes Medicare, Medicaid, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration. Earlier this year, the Trump Administration fired about 10 percent of ACL's 200-person staff, though that decision has been challenged in court. Most of those staffers had been on the job for less than a year. Oddly, Kennedy defended the changes by insisting he would focus HHS on improving the quality of care for people with chronic conditions. But providing much-needed social support often is the best way to enhance the quality of life for those with chronic disease. And killing the office that manages much of that assistance will hurt, not help, those who rely on these programs.
