Approving next year's budget is the House Ways and Means and Education Committee's top institutional priority. On Tuesday, committee members did just that by pushing several important bills.
The package includes additional spending from the Education Trust Fund Advancement and Technology Fund, additional spending from the Education Trust Fund, the budget itself, a 2% pay increase for public education employees, and other annual funding measures. All bills are sponsored by state Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), who chairs the Ways and Means and Education Committee.
HB144 would appropriate $651,202,906 from the Education Trust Fund to various state departments, agencies, and institutions of higher education in the fiscal year ending 2024, according to the fiscal year. In addition, he appropriated $29,998,245 for the K-12 capital grant program, eliminated the revolving loan program for institutions of higher education, and amended the Education Trust Fund Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2024 to clarify experience requirements for school nurses. .
“This is an education budget,” Garrett said of HB145. “We have secured some funding for the expansion of UAB, a dental clinic in northern Alabama,” Garrett said. “Also, he added $5,000 to the Holocaust Commission. It was $95,000 before. That makes him $100,000 more. There are a number of places in the budget where he added qualifying language. .”
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Additional funding measures include expanding technical education programs across West Alabama, securing some funding for the upcoming 250th anniversary of America's independence from Great Britain in 2026, and redirecting funding to family support initiatives. It can be done.
“We have added funding for deferred maintenance,” Garrett said. “We are removing the dollar-for-dollar match requirement for HBCU deferred maintenance.”
HB146 provides a 2% raise for all K-12 employees.
The ETF Fund's total budget, excluding additional spending, was $9,348,506,169, slightly more than the Governor's request. For K-12 education, he will receive $6,379,715,161, an increase of $390,503,174 starting in fiscal year 2024. Higher education received $2,394,979,702 in this budget, an increase of $138,010,664. Other state agencies appropriated from the education budget received his $507,381,306 increase of $21,398,290.
All bills received favorable reports from their committees this week. Fiscal year 2025 begins on October 1st. Tuesday will be his 22nd day in his 2024 legislative session.
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