Lawmakers convened Tuesday for the 2018 Legislative Session amid positive budget news and the announcement that the coveted Toyota/Mazda plant chose Alabama as its site.

 

2018 Session: Budgets, Pay Bump & Big Industry Win

 

Lawmakers convened Tuesday for the 2018 Legislative Session amid positive budget news and the announcement that the coveted Toyota/Mazda plant chose Alabama as its site.

The state celebrated the announcement that will bring 4,000 new jobs to north Alabama plus an anticipated 10,000 to 12,000 collateral jobs by suppliers. The governor’s budget , as expected, included good news with an increase for education. The current year $6.42 billion would grow to an anticipated $6.63 billion available for the FY19 Education Trust Fund budget, a $216 million increase for public education.

The governor’s education budget, H.175 (Poole), is traditionally substituted quickly by budget committees in the legislative process. The budget will begin in the House Ways and Means Education Committee. AASB will provide detailed information as the budget begins its legislative journey. Here is a summary of the budget proposal by the SDE.

 

Education employees pay raise

The governor’s budget proposes a 2.5 percent pay raise for K-12 education employees. H.174 (Poole) would provide the salary increase effective Oct.1, 2018. Every one percent salary increase costs approximately $36.6 million for K-12 school employees, or a total $91.5 million for the 2.5 percent raise. The governor also provided a pay raise for state employees in the general fund budget.

Ask lawmakers to release $41M for K-12 schools NOW

When legislators adjourned in 2017 without passing a supplemental appropriations bill, $41 million were left in an account and inaccessible for schools to use. Those dollars are still there and can be used in the current fiscal year but only upon passage of H.179 (Poole). The funding is in the Advancement & Technology Fund which allows schools to use funding in one of five ways: repairs and deferred maintenance; classroom instructional support; insurance for facilities; transportation; or acquisition or purchase of technology. Urge lawmakers to pass H.179 (Poole) and release the supplemental funding to schools.

 

Repeal conflict to Students First Act

The House Education Policy Committee unanimously approved H.27 (Baker), to repeal a provision that prevents school systems from moving forward in disciplinary actions when an employee is also charged with the crime of sexual contact with a student.

The criminal law, passed in 2010, was in place before the 2011 tenure law revision. With the enactment of the Students First Act, that provision is now moot. This bill amends the Criminal Code to reflect the change in the law, eliminate confusion and prevent employees charged with sexual contact with students from attempting to seek protection under this obsolete provision.

Every tenured or non-probationary employee is entitled to due process for disciplinary action regarding pay or termination. Passage of this legislation would assure that all employees are treated with the same due process protections no matter the charges. School leaders urge quick passage of H.27 (Baker) on the House floor. S.28 (Pittman), the Senate companion, is pending in the Senate Education and Youth Affairs Committee.

 

Restricting board advocacy

S.102 (Orr) would prohibit education entities from expending public funds to advocate for a YES or NO vote on state or local ballots. Only public colleges an universities, local boards of education and public schools are bound by the legislation. The activities covered are enumerated in statute. (Section 17-17-5). Providing voters with information about education-related initiatives, without advocating for a specific voter action, would not be prohibited.

 

Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) for minors/schools

This year, a two-bill approach addresses establishing a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order for minors and whether such orders apply in a school setting. H.194 (Weaver) would amend the statute creating portable DNR orders to specify an order for those under the age of 19 called an Order for Pediatric Palliative and End of Life Care. The second, H.202 (Weaver), would create a task force to establish protocol to create a Palliative and End of Life Individual Health Plan that would incorporate the DNR for minors in a school setting. The obligation to honor the DNR would be limited to school nurses in their role as medical professionals in a school setting. The school DNR bill, H.202, is contingent upon passage of the healthcare DNR bill, H.194. In the reverse, should the portable DNR for minors bill be enacted but the school DNR bill fail, the statute would explicitly state that the DNR for minors would not apply in a school setting.

 

Education Legislation

H.1(Hanes)/S.2 (Shelnut)— DROP “Lite” — would provide a deferred retirement option plan for Tier I and II members.

H.12 (Crawford)/S.153 (Melson)— Outside Employment — would remove the prohibition against county school superintendents participating in additional employment outside the school system.

H.13 (Fincher)/S.14 (Dial)— 30-Day Notice — would require K-12 teachers to give 30-day notice when resigning; currently only a five-day notice is required. H.114 (Greer) — Bible as school material — would permit the use of the Bible and other scripture as educational material.

S.11 (Brewbaker)— Renaming Schools — would remove the prohibition to rename schools from the 2017 Memorial Preservation Act.

S.21 (Dial)— 13th Check for Retirees — would provide a one-time $400 lump sum for every education retiree.

S.22 (Brewbaker)— 7 Day Posting — would require notice for a school personnel vacancy to be posted on the board website and decrease the posting time from 14 to 7 days.

S.44 (Coleman-Madison)— New City School Systems — would change the population requirement for a city to establish a board of education from 5,000 to 25,000; would require determination of financial capability.

S.101 (Orr)— Gifted Program Grant — would give the SDE authority to offer competitive grants for gifted programs.

S.148 (Ward) — Juvenile Justice — would revise juvenile justice system; would require school boards inform parents of services available and to annually submit multi-disciplinary agreements regarding appropriate actions.

S.151 (Smitherman)— Terrorist Threat in Schools — would provide that a threat to commit a violent crime against religious properties or any schools be a Class C felony terrorist threat.

S.159 (Shelnut)—Access to Employees —would grant all professional educators’ associations the same level of access to employees at public schools.

 

Revise State Board Structure?

Several introduced bills propose changes to the structure or governance of the State Board of Education.

H.70 (Collins) would apply the School Board Governance Act to members of the State Board of Education and add four nonvoting members to the board. The bill will be in House Education Policy Committee Wednesday, Jan.17.

S.24 (Albritton) /S.25 (Albritton)would amend the constitution to eliminate the State Board of Education and instead allow the governor to appoint a Director of Education who would appoint members of a Board of Counsel.

During a budget hearing, Interim State Superintendent Dr. Ed Richardson urged lawmakers to withhold from making any such changes as the board works to recruit and hire a new superintendent. He shared concern that potential applicants would hesitate should there be uncertainty about the position and the future of the employing board . Lissa Tucker,

AASB Director of Governmental Relations

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org