Alabama education budget chairs awaiting research on possible school funding changes

Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville (right), the chair of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, speaks with Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, the chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on May 8, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Alabama’s two education budget chairs said last week they’re still waiting on the next steps for the work on a potential new education funding formula for the state.

“We’re gonna take the summer off because it’s just hard to pin people down,” said Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education committee.

Orr and Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, the chair of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, said in separate interviews last week that there is research being done into the new funding formula.

The joint education committees have had one meeting so far.

Alabama currently has what is referred to as a resource-based funding formula. The student population determines how many teacher units are allocated, and money is allocated further based on those teacher units, as State Superintendent Eric Mackey has previously explained.

In recent years, states have been moving towards a weighted student funding formula, which puts weights on students to tie more money to them. Weights might include poverty or special education. The formula is used to achieve resource equity by attaching the weights or multipliers to student needs.

Changing the funding formula could be difficult. Most revenue streams in Alabama government are earmarked for specific purposes. Almost all state income tax revenues pay public school teacher salaries, under a constitutional amendment adopted in 1947.

Garrett said that they are planning to hear more presenters in an August meeting.

“In between that time, yes, we’re gathering information,” he said.

Orr said that an education group called Bellwether, a national nonprofit educational organization that says it works to “ ensure systemically marginalized young people achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities,” is currently doing research.

According to Ballotpedia, the group has been supportive of Common Core and charter schools. One of the co-founders, Andrew Rotherham, served as a s pecial assistant to the president for domestic policy and has been appointed to the Virginia State Board of Education by both former Democratic Gov. Mark Warner and current Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, per Bellwether’s website. Mary K. Wells led STEM and school investment in a Texas organization prior to Bellwether. The other founders are Kim Smith, co-founder of New Schools and Monisha Lozier, career coach .

Garrett said they are starting at “square one” and could not yet comment on looking at other states as models.

“You got to compare their demographics to our demographics and their systems, our systems and so we’re way early in the process,” he said.

Orr said he did not believe that changing the funding formula would take a constitutional amendment.

“The earmark is to education, that it be spent on education and so if we were taking or giving education money for prisons and general fund items, then yes, we may have a constitutional situation, but my understanding and talking to the staff, etcetera, that it would not need to be a constitutional amendment  because the foundation program is not ensconced in the Constitution,” said Orr.

Garrett said “we have no preconceived ideas at this point.”

Orr said that something he hears from a lot of people is a lack of flexibility that comes with the current model.

Orr also said that they are also talking about more accountability for schools for more money.

“I don’t know what those would look like, but those are all just in the discussion phase,” he said.

If a new funding formula were to pass the next regular legislative session. Orr said the impacts would likely be felt in 2026 when working on the Fiscal Year 2027 budget.

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