Superintendent outlines $335 million foundation request including school nurses, special-education pay and coaches

State education leaders presented a multi-part foundation and program budget request the Alabama State Board of Education will consider for transmission to the governor and the legislature, emphasizing that the requests are intended to align with the department’s strategic priorities for academic growth, career readiness and safe schools.

Superintendent Dr. Mackey framed the proposal as investments aligned to the department’s strategic plan. "We want them to see that these requests are aligned to our strategic plan," he said, adding the requests are intended to target "academic growth and achievement, college and career readiness, safe and supportive learning environments, highly effective educators, and customer-friendly services."

What was requested: The proposal presented to the board included a set of major items (figures are departmental proposals, not legislative appropriations): a request described as a $335 million package to expand the foundation program generally (this number included a set of sub-requests); an itemized set of proposals that included a $60 million request to expand and supplement school nursing coverage statewide, a proposal to pay special-education teachers a recurring stipend (department staff modeled a per-teacher enhancement and estimated the full-scale cost in the tens of millions), and increased support for local reading coaches and new math coaches targeted at low-performing elementary schools. Officials said the department also seeks additional teacher units (a multi-grade adjustment that could add roughly 3,200 teacher positions under one modeling approach) and funding for career coaches at every high school.

Nurses and special education: Presenters explained that part of the request would reduce the local cost burden for nursing services, expand registered-nurse days (from 182 to 187 days in the department’s proposal) and increase pay competitiveness for LPNs to address recruitment shortfalls. On special education, the department proposed a recurring stipend to make special-education teaching pay more competitive and to reflect the higher workload involved in supporting students with IEPs.

Coaches and supports: Department staff proposed targeted funding for math coaches in the lowest-performing elementary schools (to pair with existing reading coaching), expanded professional-development funds through regional in-service centers, and continued investment in summer reading camps, high-dosage tutoring pilots and ARI-aligned literacy efforts. Staff stressed that many recovery activities are currently funded with federal ESSER dollars, and the department is modeling how some of those activities would be supported with state dollars when federal relief ends.

Programs and partnerships: The request includes funding increases and continuations for programs that departmental staff said complement classroom instruction: Computer Science for Alabama; expanded JAG (Jobs for Alabama’s Graduates) programs; arts and STEM supports including Science in Motion; and a proposal to sustain or replace federally funded teacher-residency and troops-to-teachers pipelines. The department also proposed a teacher mentoring expansion and additional funding for regional service centers to increase capacity for data analytics and targeted PD.

Process and timing: Officials said they will carry the full spreadsheet of line items to the executive budget office and then present a two-page summary to the legislature; the department expects to discuss the package with the legislature in December budget hearings and to return to the board with drafts at the next meetings. The superintendent and budget staff cautioned these are requests to be negotiated through the governor’s budget process and with the legislature.

Ending: Board members asked for additional implementation detail for several proposals — including how math and reading coaches would be deployed, how special-education incentives would be administered, and how the nurse funding would interact with local payrolls — and asked staff to prepare supplemental materials for the board’s next meeting and for legislative briefings. Department staff said they would return with more granular implementation plans and a concise two-page request for formal submission.