Senate education panel advances Raise Act and a slate of education funding measures, approves $375 million transfer

The Alabama Senate Education Budget Committee voted to advance a package of education funding measures and budget adjustments that include a $375,000,000 transfer from the Educational Opportunity Fund to a newly created Raise Fund aimed at implementing a student-weighted funding formula.

Senator Orr, sponsor of the Raise Act provisions, told the committee the appropriation is a three-year prepayment to start student-weighted funding for four designated student “buckets” including poverty and English-language learners. "We're going to recommend today taking making a $375,000,000 appropriation out of our educational opportunity fund," Orr said. The plan would distribute $100 million in year one, $125 million in year two and $150 million in year three.

The funding transfer and several companion budget and supplemental measures were approved largely by unanimous voice or roll call votes in committee. The committee also adopted a substitute to the Advancement and Technology Fund bill that redirects $100,000,000 from K–12 to a new matching-grant program for career-technical center buildings and equipment to be run by the State Department of Education.

Why it matters: committee members said the moves operationalize a commission recommendation to shift to a hybrid student-weighted funding formula and provide near-term certainty for schools and systems that might hire or expand programs based on the weights. Committee proponents said the multi-year transfer is meant to avoid starting programs that cannot be sustained.

Key details: the committee record shows the $375 million will be placed in a Raise Fund and phased into weights over three years; special-education high-needs grant funding remains set aside and was not shifted into the Raise Fund; line-item shifts across budget and supplemental documents were described as reallocation from one appropriation line to another rather than eliminations.

Other items highlighted during the bill walkthrough included increased support for school-based and tele-mental health services, parental leave funding for local systems, school nurses funding retained outside the foundation program, K–3 reading coaches, gifted-program funding being folded into the Raise Act buckets, and targeted increases to provider rates for developmental- and intellectual-disability services. Committee members also requested clearer notice and application timing language for the career-technical grants to ensure existing applicants would not be disadvantaged.

Committee actions at a glance: SB305 (Raise Act funding transfer): substitute adopted; committee gave a favorable report (15 Aye, 0 Nay). SB111 (transfer and Raise Fund mechanics / appropriation language): substitute adopted; committee gave a favorable report (15 Aye, 0 Nay). SB114 (Advancement and Technology Fund; substitute including $100M career-technical grant): substitute adopted; committee gave a favorable report (15 Aye, 0 Nay). SB113 (supplemental balancing higher ed and K–12 splits from the Opportunity Fund): substitute adopted; committee gave a favorable report (15 Aye, 0 Nay). SB122 (unspecified appropriations noted in committee; recorded vote: 14 Aye, 1 Abstention; committee gave a favorable report). SB150 (appropriation for Talladega College): recorded vote noted as 14 Aye, 0 Nay, 1 Abstention; committee gave a favorable report.

Discussion vs. decisions: several items were described as budget re-allocations between the budget and supplemental, and committee discussion focused on implementation details and timing rather than changing dollar totals. Committee members asked staff to draft amendment language to clarify notice and application timing for the career-technical grant program and to produce a plain-language list of new or changed programs/sources schools can use once the budget is finalized.

What’s next: the bills advanced out of committee to the next Senate stage; committee members asked for follow-up language and implementation guidance from staff and the State Department of Education to be ready for floor consideration.