Education budget with teacher pay raises heads to Alabama House for vote

A House committee Thursday approved an education budget that would provide a pay raise for teachers and increases to several education programs. 

The $7.65 billion Education Trust Fund budget, which passed the Senate on March 18, goes to the full House for consideration. 

"I don't think it takes much for us all to pause and realize how significant the compensating effects of the fortunate position that we're in, particularly as compared to many states who have cut their education budgets," said House Ways and Means Education chair Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa.

The budget reflects a more hopeful outlook for the state economy as vaccinations for COVID increase. The Legislature last year abandoned ambitious plans for the education budget last year as the pandemic, and the fears of major economic losses, took hold.  

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The budget as passed by the committee would include a 2% raise for education employees. A teacher with a bachelor's degree and less than three years' experience would see their salary go up $817 a year, from $40,873 to $41,690. A teacher with a masters' degree and 15 to 18 years' experience would see their salary go up $1,139 a year, from $56,952 to $58,091.

Money for school supplies would increase from $600 per teacher to $700 per teacher. Money for technology would go form $350 per classroom to $500 per classroom. Funding for transportation would go up slightly by $4.7 million (1.2%). 

The budget would include $95 million to teacher stabilization, to protect jobs that might be lost due to swings in daily attendance. 

Other programs were effectively level-funding. Gov. Kay Ivey sought a $20 million increase for the Alabama Reading Initiative (a 26% increase), but the budget headed to the House would increase it by $2 million, a 2.6% increase. Funding for the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) would remain steady at $30.3 million.

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Alabama's pre-kindergarten program would get a $29 million increase. Public colleges and universities would see a 6% increase in state funding, and the state's community college system would get a $41 million, a 9.8% increase.

Alabama State University in Montgomery would see its state funding go up $3 million, a 6.2% increase. Auburn University Montgomery's state funding would go up $1.5 million, a 6% increase. 

The budget also includes a major increase for the High Needs Special Education Grant program, increasing from $9.7 million to $17.4 million, a 78% increase. Funding for Advanced Placement classes would go up $2 million, a 27% increase. 

The House also added $3 million for an anti-bullying program. The money would be distributed as grants. The budget bill says preference would be given "to applicants seeing to develop and implement evidence-based practices to promote a school environment that is free of harassment, intimidation, violence, and threats of violence."

At $7.65 billion, the budget, if approved, would be the largest in nominal terms in state history. The Legislature in 2007 approved a $6.7 billion budget, roughly equal to about $8.2 billion today, though it was later cut as the Great Recession took hold. 

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.