Alabama’s Education Budget Boost: A $9 Billion Investment for the Future

An Alabama House committee adopted a $9 billion education budget on Tuesday, including a 2% salary boost for educators. The passage of the measures marks the Education Trust Fund’s first official move in 2024-25.

The bills passed Tuesday with little debate. Chair Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, had previously reviewed some of the revisions to the Governor’s Budget last week.

“We put a lot of additional money into public education that targets areas of critical need,” Garrett said after the meeting. The 2% salary hike is unchanged from the Governor’s budget recommendation.

The House Ways and Means Education substitute includes a year-over-year increase of around $110 million for colleges and universities, from around $1.55 billion to $1.66 billion (7.1%); a K-12 Foundation program increase of approximately $196 million, from around $4.49 billion to $4.68 billion (4.3%); a $36 million increase for the Alabama Community College System, from around $551 million to around $587 million (6.5%); and an increase to the State Department of Education of ar

The majority of the department’s increase will go toward specialized programs including English Language Learning and various topic programming, such as the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) and the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI). AMSTI funding would increase by $31 million, from roughly $73 million to around $104 million, representing a 42% increase. The ARI would grow by about $49 million, from roughly $94 million to around $143 million, or a 52% increase.

Textbooks or digital resources would be awarded at $100 per student based on the average daily membership for the first 20 instructional days following Labor Day of the previous school year.

Garrett stated following the committee meeting that this year’s budget represents a shift toward allocating funds based on need rather than headcount.

“I think it’s a good budget that moves us in the direction of maybe changing our funding formula so we can address some of these specific needs,” he told reporters. Garrett stated that they were attempting to transition to a system that would provide districts more flexibility in spending money.

“We divide everything by headcount, regardless of needs,” he went on to say. “So now that we have to look at a little more granularly how we disperse the money, but then also that will give systems more autonomy in how they internally disperse the money.”