MONTGOMERY — Legislators say possible changes to Alabama's public K-12 education funding formula won't include shifting local funding between different school districts.
In April, legislators passed a joint resolution 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 adopted in 1995. The Foundation Program is financed through 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.
State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said at a study commission meeting on Thursday, "Alabama is in a shrinking minority of states that have a foundation-type program based on head count."
"We also want to try to see increased per-pupil funding if we do this right. We don't want to take money from one district and give it to another," Orr said. "That's a big concern of members and I certainly would reflect that. We all represent districts. We also don't want to tamper with local funding, that is not something that we have in mind to do or go down that road as far as shifting local funds that is raised locally and spent locally and not sent to Montgomery. That's certainly not in our assumptions as we go down this road. We're also looking at more flexibility of course on how the funding is allocated at the local level rather than the more rigid foundation program that we have today."
State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey told Lagniappe recently changing the funding formula would require "a lot more money."
"The last time Alabama did a study like this one they predicted we needed to raise $2 billion dollars in new taxes to get to that equity piece, and that was about 10 years ago," Mackey told the outlet on Monday. "Everybody knows there's been a lot of inflation in the last 10 years. I don't see the state passing a $2 billion-plus tax increase."
State Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) called the quote "disturbing."
"The way that you sabotage and destroy, disrupt efforts down here is with misinformation," Garrett said at the Legislative Study Commission on Modernizing K-12 School Education Funding meeting on Thursday.
Garrett continued, "We're not looking to shift money from any district to another district and the idea that we would go into this with the idea of raising a $2 billion statewide tax increase, I don't know where that's coming from."
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."
A student-based funding formula is when 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.
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