MONTGOMERY — Alabama lawmakers plan to study possible changes to how the state funds K-12 public education before the 2025 legislative session begins.
Legislators passed a joint resolution last week mandating a study on "modernizing" K-12 school funding.
According to the resolution, the Foundation Program for funding K-12 education in Alabama is a resource-based system that was adopted in 1995. The Foundation Program is funded from state and local tax dollars with the local share coming from local property taxes of 10-mills that each system must levy to participate in the program while the state costs come from the Education Trust Fund.
The Foundation Program provides funding to school districts based on the anticipated costs of resources and inputs, such as salaries, basic financial support for classrooms, and operations money, but according to the resolution, it "provides minimal additional state funding for students with disabilities or to address other individual needs of students."
"We're one of the few remaining states that have a foundation-type program which is based on student census numbers more or less. Based on your student headcount, that triggers more funding for counselors or assistant principals, etc. That is not perhaps the best way to fund education," State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), chairman of the Senate Education Budget Committee, told reporters recently. "If you've followed the trend among the various states, Tennessee being one of the most recent states that has passed student-based funding, and by that, I mean you look at the needs of the student in making decisions over a particular base amount. So, let's assume Alabama has a $7,000 base student amount, we would be looking at enhancements for students in poverty, students that are English language learners, special-ed students, students that are gifted and looking at those categories to appropriate additional dollars."
Orr said, "We want to have a recommendation in place certainly before the start of the next session."
"Something else that will be in the cards and I'll go ahead and pull the curtain back is there's a real concern in this state about funding at the local level and by that I mean under the Foundation Program as you know we had the Starkey amendment that passed in 2006 that set the minimum millage at 10-mills to participate in the Foundation Program," Orr added. "We have areas around the state that are still at that level and will that be a consideration? I don't know how to predict that one today, but it's certainly something that will be discussed as we look at education funding in the whole."
The mill rate is the amount per $1,000 of a property's assessed value, which is used to calculate the amount of property tax owed.
The resolution states Alabama is one of only six states that only uses a resource-based funding formula for K-12 education, while 41 states use a student-based funding formula where school districts receive funding based on the number of students enrolled or in attendance with additional funding being provided based on characteristics of the students of the district, such as low-income, poverty, disability, and status as an English language learner, or a gifted student
The study on modernizing the current K-12 school funding model into a student-based funding model, including any additional costs associated with the transition, is due on February 1, 2025, before the start of next year's legislative session.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
