State Superintendent Eric Mackey spoke to Alabama legislators today about funding for public education as budget hearings got under way for the legislative session that starts in two weeks.
Others who appeared today included Department of Early Childhood Education Secretary Jeana Ross, who oversees the state’s prekindergarten program, Community College Chancellor Jimmy Baker, and Alabama Commission on Higher Education Executive Director Jim Purcell.
The Legislature’s budget committees hold the hearings each year in preparation for passing the education and General Fund budgets, two of the main tasks for legislators, who begin their session on Feb. 4.
Alabama’s growing economy, with record high levels of employment, enabled legislators to approve a $7.1 billion education budget for this year, $500 million more than last year.
It was the first time legislators approved spending more than $7 billion from the Education Trust Fund.
Mackey said in September he would request a $300 million increase for K-12 schools next year, with most of that applied to hiring about 1,900 more teachers.
Speaking to reporters after today’s hearing, Mackey said he would not request a specific number of new teachers. He said if new teachers are added the focus should be on grades K-3.
Part of Mackey’s presentation today concerned implementation of the Alabama Literacy Act, which lawmakers passed last year to place new emphasis on reading instruction in grades K-3.
The education budget request includes funding to hire reading coaches to work in individual schools and reading specialists who will assist schools by region. It includes money for professional development for teachers in the science of reading instruction, for summer reading and after-school programs for children with reading problems, and for programs to help children with dyslexia.
Starting with the 2021-2022 school year, students who are not reading at grade level by the end of the third grade will not advance to the fourth grade, although exceptions will be allowed for good cause, such as for students with disabilities.
The changes initiated under the Alabama Literacy Act are, in part, a reworking of the Alabama Reading Initiative, which Mackey said was innovative and effective when it started in the 1990s. Mackey said elimination of the teacher training and regional support professionals effectively gutted the program in the 2000s. He said the Alabama Literacy Act has put a spotlight on the need to return to what was working.
Alabama’s poor rankings in reading and math on the National Assessment of Education Progress has drawn attention to the need to identify and help students at risk of falling behind as early as possible.
The plan to address the low math scores has similarities to the reading initiative. It calls for revamping the Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) with a new focus on math in the early grades. The budget request for next year calls for hiring 220 math coaches by the summer of 2021. The funding request for the math initiative will ramp up sharply during the 2021-2022 school year, Mackey told lawmakers.
ACHE Executive Director Purcell gave a slide presentation showing the overall request for higher education was $1.9 billion, an increase of $121 million, or 6.8% more than this year. Purcell said college and university funding has still not been restored to the level of 2008, before the Great Recession. He said institutions are funded at 87% of that level.
Alabama Community College System Chancellor Baker said the ACCS is requesting a $35 million overall increase in operations and maintenance funding that goes directly to colleges. The ACCS is requesting a $4.2 million increase in education programs for state prison inmates inmates during and after incarceration. Baker said that is a good investment because it reduces prison recidivism.
Department of Early Childhood Education Secretary Ross did not present a funding request for next year but gave a presentation on the state’s First Class prekindergarten program, which for more than a decade has met all the benchmarks for quality established by the National Institute for Early Education Research.
The Legislature has increased funding for the program sharply over the last seven years making the program available to more 4-year-olds. Lawmakers approved $123 million for the program this year, up from $96 million last year, the largest ever one-year increase. That allowed the program to expand to 1,209 classrooms serving 21,762 children, 37% of the eligible children.
Ross cited research showing that children who participate in First Class are more likely to be ready for kindergarten, proficient in reading, and proficient in math and less likely to be retained a grade and chronically absent.
The budget hearings continue on Thursday with presentations by agencies that depend on the state General Fund, including the departments of Corrections, Mental Health, Public Health, the Alabama Medicaid Agency, and the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.
Legislators approved a $2.2 billion General Fund budget this year, up from $2.06 billion last year.
Jeana Ross, secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, speaks to legislators during budget hearings on Jan. 22, 2020. (Mike Cason/[email protected])
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