MONTGOMERY — Lawmakers began a series of meetings on Wednesday to consider changing how universities and colleges are funded in Alabama.
State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), chairman of the Senate Education Trust Fund committee, said lawmakers would consider changing higher education funding to an "outcome-based funding model."
Orr compared the process to changes lawmakers made to public K-12 funding through the RAISE Act during the 2025 session.
"There will be an emphasis on how can we help you improve your outcomes, and one of the things the legislature would like to see, and I'm filling in a blank, would be jobs the state of Alabama needs," Orr told reporters on Wednesday. "One of those is educators or teachers. One is nurses, we need more qualified people in health care, we need more lab technicians. That's going to be junior college obviously, that's not a four-year degree. What are the needs that our state has? Now, how can we help you with additional funds to increase your numbers for those particular outcomes and that's just one example."
He continued, "This will not affect the base operations and maintenance money that they have going into their annual budget. This will be additional money coming back to the colleges as a carrot, not a stick, but as a carrot to help them improve their outcomes in particular areas."
"We hope through this process the legislature will help them with additional funding to improve their outcomes," Orr added. "Well, what are the outcomes? Jobs that we need here in Alabama such as teachers, such as nurses, engineers, other particular professions. Those are important for our state. Higher-paying jobs, those are also important, jobs that people can earn a living wage with."
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