Alabama Education Trust Fund budget heads back to House for approval

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WHNT) — Alabama state senators passed the Education Trust Fund budget this week.

$9.3 billion is expected to go toward Alabama schools. The budget funds everything from teacher salaries to after school programs to scholarships for students in higher education.

State Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) sponsored the education budget in 2024. He said one aspect of the budget includes changing the number of students needed to bring more assistant principals to schools.

“We’ve added funding in there to hire assistant principals in schools that had at least 300 [students],” Garrett said. “Right now, the state didn’t fund unless you had 500 [students], so we’ve addressed that situation.

State Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) said they have added $10 million to go toward the Summer EBT program to feed children. Not starting until next year, he explained the money will pay to get the program running after the loss of COVID-19 funds.

“Sometimes, these school lunches are some of the only meals these kids get,” Singleton said. “It’s a healthy lunch throughout the day, so while they’re out in the summer, we want to make sure they get that nutrition value of a meal.”

State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said teachers can expect a pay raise in this budget.

“Starting teachers were still a little bit behind our contiguous states,” Orr said. “Gov. Ivey has seen that we have one of the highest starting pays in the southeast, which is certainly a good position to be in.”

The Summer EBT program was recently added into the budget, so it goes back to the House for approval next week.

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