Latest news with #SenateFinanceandTaxationEducationCommittee
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A giveaway to the rich, disguised as school choice
House Ways and Means Education Committee Chair Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, asks a question as Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee Chair Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, listens during a budget presentation to lawmakers on Feb. 5, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Garrett sponsored last year's CHOOSE Act, which gives families tax credits of $7,000 for each eligible child to be spent on nonpublic education. Orr recently increased funding for the program in the 2026 budget. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Our leaders call Alabama's effective voucher program the CHOOSE Act. There's some grim irony in that. Of course, you can choose to pay for private school tuition, whatever your reasons may be. But it's not my choice. Or what the families of 730,000 Alabama students want. We pay taxes to support the teachers educating our children in public schools. And we want teachers and staff to have the resources they need to help students thrive. Yet our leaders plan to divert that money from classrooms into the pockets of wealthy families, in the form of $7,000 tax breaks. More if they have more than one kid enrolled in a private school. Yes, yes. Under this law, the credit could cover something besides a non-public academy. But considering that two-thirds of the initial applicants to the program are already in private school or homeschooled, it's not hard to predict how the program will operate. You might also note current eligibility is limited to those making 300% of the poverty level. That sounds a lot more restrictive than it is. The cap is almost $80,000 a year for a family of three and around $96,000 for a family of four. Alabama's median household income is $62,212 a year. So we're already letting those making more than half the households in the state into the program. That mild regulation goes away in 2027. Which means the 1% will get in. And that you will be paying private school tuition for people who don't need the help. That's not how one sells a voucher program. Instead, you preach 'choice' to families and educators locked in a public education system built on discrimination. 'The CHOOSE Act will provide an opportunity for students to learn and thrive in an environment that best meets their needs, which could be a public school,' said Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, the sponsor of the law, during House debate last year. Even U.S. Sen. Katie Britt gets into it, claiming that her own federal version of this is OK because 'your zip code shouldn't determine your opportunities.' Nor should dead racists, the main reason why some zip codes have a lot more opportunity than others. But even if we accept Garrett and Britt's premises, the CHOOSE Act isn't going to help poor kids. Seven thousand dollars won't get a student struggling with poverty to a private school. Not when the average private school tuition in Alabama is $8,298 a year. One gets an image of a person in an Armani suit walking into a cell block and proclaiming freedom to the inmates while holding a $7,000 check in one hand and a $8,298 key in the other. Freeing our schools from the prison of Jim Crow means trusting local communities with school funding; ending tax breaks to elite Alabamians that drain public services and spending money on students. The CHOOSE Act sort of acknowledges that. Implicit in the law is the premise that any private school in Alabama is superior to any public school. Why? Because many private schools invest far more money in their students than the $13,461 per pupil our state does, a number that would be even lower without the 18% the federal government kicks in. Altamont in Birmingham charges over $30,000 a year for high school. Montgomery Academy asks for $19,000 for students in grades 10-12. Just think what we could achieve if Alabama spent $30,000 a year on a public school student. Or $24,000, which gets Massachusetts nation-leading results on standardized tests. Or $17,277, the average per-pupil spending in the United States. The CHOOSE Act has to nod at the fact that school spending works. But it also operates within the worldview of a state government that promotes private privilege over public welfare. Money can only go to people who already have it. Not the undeserving poor. And a lot of that money is about to head out the door. The 2026 education budget originally included $100 million to fund the CHOOSE Act. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, the chair of the Senate's education budget committee, increased that to $135 million due to 'overwhelming, large applicant numbers' for the program. Expect that number to grow even more as the caps come off the program. Public school funding will suffer. Arizona in 2022 expanded an existing voucher program along the lines of what Alabama has just implemented. It proved far more expensive than they anticipated, and it's contributed to budget problems in the state. That could happen here, and public school students will pay the price. The key to public school improvement is obvious: collecting more taxes from the wealthy — who pay less to the state government in percentage terms than the poorest 20% — and investing them in public education. Making the system better for everyone. But Alabama legislators have signaled they'd much rather assist children who don't need the help. The rest of us have no choice in that. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate committee approves bill restricting picketing, protests
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, the chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, speaks to reporters after a presentation on the state's fiscal condition on Feb. 5, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The Senate County and Municipal Government Committee Wednesday approved Orr's bill to set restrictions on picketing and protests on April 2, 2025. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A Senate committee approved a bill on Wednesday that restricts when, where and how a group can picket and protest. SB 247, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, prohibits protesters from using noise amplifiers, being too close to the residence of the subject of the protest 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise, and from blocking roads for the protest. Orr filed similar legislation in the previous two legislative sessions. In 2023, the bill passed the Senate but did not receive a vote in the House. In 2024, it was indefinitely postponed in a Senate committee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'The first version was filed in response to the Justice (Brett) Kavanaugh hearings where people went to his house and were demonstrating outside at all hours of the night,' Orr said. 'I thought how intimidating would that be whether you're an elected person or unelected it doesn't matter.' The Senate County and Municipal Government Committee heard from one critic of the legislation during a public hearing. Camille Bennett, executive director of Project Say Something, an advocacy group for change focusing on Black history and anti-racism training, said the legislation was too vague and unconstitutional. 'SB 247 is not only a bad bill but an assault on the First Amendment rights and voices of marginalized Alabamians,' Bennett said. Bennett said peaceful protests will always be near a residence in rural Alabama. 'Alabama is the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. Black folk in Alabama understand the necessity of exercising our First Amendment rights as a pathway to freedom and navigation through white supremacist systems,' Bennett said. 'We have apartments and residential housing within an earshot of any of our protests including parks and our local courthouse.' Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said that is especially true in cities like Birmingham that have lofts and apartments downtown. 'There's so many lofts downtown so where would you actually go to have even a peaceful protest in downtown Birmingham and not be near a residence,' Coleman said. Orr rebutted saying people can still protest in public parks and other areas. 'There's plenty of places to make your sentiments known,' Orr said. Coleman said the legislation could violate the First Amendment and warned against restricting the right to protest on the state level. 'I just don't want us, especially right now, especially nationally when some people feel as if our First Amendment rights are being infringed upon, just being able to say what we believe,' she said. 'I don't know if we should be doing that on a state level as well, especially in Alabama.' Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, said the bill was too vague and suggested an amendment to set a limit on noise levels. The bill currently says that local law enforcement can deem what is too loud. 'It's not specific so you allow the local governments to make that determination,' Coleman-Madison said. The bill was approved 5-2. Coleman and Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Birmingham, voted against the approval, and Coleman-Madison abstained. It will now be considered by the full Senate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama legislative committee recommends hybrid K-12 funding model
House Ways and Means Education Committee Chair Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, asks a question as Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee Chair Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, listens during a budget presentation to lawmakers on Feb. 5, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama legislative committee Thursday approved a report recommending the state adopt a hybrid model of funding the state's public schools but leaving the door open to other approaches. Lawmakers previously outlined three options: maintaining the existing system, which allocates money based on daily attendance; overhauling it entirely, or adopting a hybrid with additional funding for specific student populations, such as special education and English language learners. Members decided to go with the hybrid approach, which would maintain the current foundation program while introducing additional funding based on student needs. Alabama's House education budget chair urges changes to school funding formula 'Option 3 is this hybrid that we've been discussing, and I've talked to members, that seems to be what they're most interested in,' Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, co-chair of the Legislative Study Commission on Modernizing K-12 School Education, said during the meeting. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, suggested a one-time funding boost for failing schools to help them during the transition. 'If we're going to be serious about trying to bring the education well above the way it needs to be, especially for the people that we've got to give some additional assistance to, then it's going to be imperative that we provide a one-time boost for these failing schools to get them to a point to where what we are doing can begin to grab hope,' Smitherman said. Rep. Troy Stubbs, R-Wetumpka, also expressed concerns about transportation funding for rural schools. 'If transportation is not part of the foundation program and not part of the hybrid approach, then I hope that we'll consider possibilities of assisting those schools that are trying to transport students to and from long distances,' Stubbs said. Moving forward, Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, co-chair of the committee, said that although he would like to implement the model within five years, lawmakers will move forward with caution. 'We're not going to do anything rash, or, pardon my word, stupid. We're going to be very deliberate about it and move at the pace as the revenues dictate because we do not want to cause problems out in the school systems across the state,' Orr said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
