Volume 36, No. 7
February 26, 2010
Time for an Education Budget Process
Alabama’s Children Can Depend On
The House Education Finance Appropriation Committee held a public hearing Wednesday on H.99, a critical budget process proposal. Because nearly one in every three years Alabama’s schools experience crippling mid-year cuts in state funding, our local schools and students are the ones who then do without.
Rep. Greg Canfield is tackling one of the biggest thorns of education funding -- stability. The rolling reserve proposal makes sure money is available when the economy fails by applying modest growth to the budget in boom years and reserving the excess. With the goal of predictable and steady growth for public education, the additional growth would be placed in a budget stabilization fund.
Opponents are concerned public education loses by the inability to spend all of the growth immediately. But the bill imposes self-control, defers the
immediate impulse to spend every last bit of growth and promises to curtail devastating mid-year budget cuts we have seen during economic recessions. The last two years of 18.5 percent proration demonstrate the need.
During the public hearing, many comments centered on a separate and distinct problem facing the ETF -- sufficiency of funding. H.99 does not address whether Alabama provides enough public education funding, it only requires that we carefully, consistently manage the dollars we have so schools and students enjoy steady, dependable growth despite up-and-down economic cycles.
Urging lawmakers to consider new approaches to eliminate proration, AASB Executive Director Sally Howell testified, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten.”
The House and Senate education budget committees, under the leadership of Chairmen Rep. Richard Lindsey and Sen. Hank Sanders, have addressed the roller coaster economic cycle. During their tenure, they fought to preserve more than $400 million in unanticipated, unappropriated growth for the Proration Prevention Account. That account saved the day in 2008 when the entire fund was needed to prevent proration. Unfortunately, today’s
zero balance cannot rectify shortfalls, nor can the Constitutional Rainy Day Fund, which has been emptied and must be repaid.
Building on the committees’ foresight, the rolling reserve proposal goes further. The Legislature retains the ability to set funding levels based on projections, but it must not exceed a ceiling set by 15 years of historical data. If this process had been in place since 1996, teachers could have had slow and
steady raises that surpass their current salary structure. Current salaries were built with raises coming purely in growth years.
Local school boards need a funding process to allow them to implement long-term plans without fear of proration. AASB urges lawmakers to carefully
consider this prudent budgeting process and work to enact a rolling reserve budget process with H.99.
PACT Bills Halfway Through Process
At Midpoint of Session
As the first order of business Thursday, the House approved a package of bills to ensure the PACT program viability for current contract holders. The bills received unanimous support after vigorous debate spurred by higher education, urging lawmakers not to include language that would cap tuition increases. Their efforts failed. H.228, sponsored by Rep. Craig Ford, passed by a vote of 104-0. H.228: would allocate approximately $236 million over an eight-year period, starting in the 2014 fiscal year, to meet PACT obligations.
The bill caps tuition increases for higher education at 2.5 percent. H.123 and H.124, sponsored by Rep. Greg Wren, would ensure transparency and sound strategy and investment practices of the PACT program. Both bills passed unanimously.
Focus on Fixing Flaw in Arbitration Loophole
With half of the legislative session gone, only bills that attract most immediacy will be moving, and the competition for attention is stiff. Gaming and Bingo, PACT solutions, not to mention state education and general fund budgets are enormous challenges. With 15 legislative work days remaining, it’s time to focus on top priorities.
AASB believes local schools could receive invaluable assistance with S.429 and S.430, sponsored by Sen. Hank Sanders. The bills target a technical consequence of the arbitration process that causes local schools to pay terminated employees their full salary and benefits for months or even
years during often drawn-out appeals processes. The loophole provides a financial incentive, with no negative consequences to the employee, guaranteeing an appeal with every termination action. A simple fix provided by S.429 and S. 430 would stop that abuse of the system. Please urge your lawmaker to support S.429 and S.430 and stop forcing schools to pay terminated employees.
School Security Officers and Firearms
The Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee Wednesday approved S. 140, a bill that would authorize school boards to allow security personnel to carry firearms when on duty. AASB thanks bill sponsor Sen. Rodger Smitherman
for introducing the bill as worked upon by school boards and administrators last year. However, the committee did adopt a substitute that removed language that specified that the individuals would be employees of the board and make decisions
enforcing board policies, regulations and laws. AASB will work with the sponsor to restore that language.
The bill retains strict qualifications for training, which is absolutely necessary to ensure student and faculty safety. The bill applies to all county and city school boards, but no school board is required to have such a policy. The bill also specifies that only law enforcement officers carry firearms
when students are present.
Streamlined Procedures Proposed
Now that school financial statements are available on the Internet, a bill proposal would remove the requirement that they be printed in the
local newspaper. H.616, sponsored by Rep. Butch Taylor, and S.466, sponsored by Sen. Marc Keahy, would also remove the requirement that payroll be signed by the school board chairman. AASB supports these bills.
Federal Aid for Schools Not Yet Addressed
The National School Boards Association is urging swift action by Congress to save education jobs. The $18 billion package approved by the U.S. Senate
does not include targeted education funds to states, but focuses on construction and other projects. The federal jobs package is critically important
to Alabama because the governor’s budget proposal
includes $345 million in federal dollars from the jobs bill to inject into Alabama’s ailing coffers.
NSBA indicates that states will have a $38 billion shortfall in 2011 without federal help. The consequences in communities, because schools are an economic engine themselves, will be drastic. Stay turned for more.
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Local school boards work with legislative leaders
to accomplish the public’s highest priority --
educating our children.
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15 Days remain in the
Regular Legislative Session.
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