All Resources
Blog
Alabama Senate passes education budget; changes likely in House
State K-12 and higher education funding next year would remain far lower than it was before the recession under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget that the Alabama Senate passed 21-10 Thursday. The $5.9 billion budget is identical to the version that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday, but changes likely are ahead in the House. K-12 [...]
Blog
Legacies of recession, chronic shortfalls linger in Alabama’s budgets
State support for education and other public services under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) and General Fund (GF) next year would not come close to its pre-recession level under the budgets that advanced in the Alabama Legislature on Wednesday. Both budgets are built on the assumption that the state will see no major revenue increases [...]
Blog
Medicaid, prison funding challenges remain as Alabama House committee OKs barebones General Fund budget
Medicaid, mental health and other human services in Alabama would face yet another year of tight funding under the General Fund (GF) budget that cleared a state House committee Wednesday. The committee’s version was virtually identical to the one that Gov. Robert Bentley recommended last month. The committee approved next year’s proposed $1.8 billion operating [...]
Blog
ETF increase not enough to restore Alabama schools to pre-recession funding
Alabama’s education funding is expected to increase next year, but K-12 and higher education need a far larger increase to meet students’ needs adequately, lawmakers heard Tuesday during the second day of state budget hearings in Montgomery. Spending in the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget will be $134 million, or 2.3 percent, higher next year, [...]
Blog
More money available for education, less for General Fund services next year
Alabama will have more money available for education next year, but funding is expected to drop for the perennially cash-strapped General Fund (GF), the director of the Legislative Fiscal Office (LFO) said Monday during the first day of state budget hearings in Montgomery. The GF provides a sizable amount of state funding for Medicaid, mental [...]
Report
Earthquake on Goat Hill: How the Alabama Accountability Act passed and what it means
Alabama would provide income tax credits to help subsidize private or religious school tuition for parents of children zoned for "failing schools" beginning this fall if Gov. Robert Bentley signs the plan into law. The House and Senate approved the measure, known as the Alabama Accountability Act, mere hours after it was first introduced on Feb. [...]