Lawmakers adjourned the session Sine Die Thursday after a week of tension between the House and Senate, where every vote was subject to the political pressure of upcoming elections

Session 2018 Legislative Ends: Elections & Political Pressure

 

Lawmakers adjourned the session Sine Die Thursday after a week of tension between the House and Senate, where every vote was subject to the political pressure of upcoming elections. Senators held up the budget to pressure House members to act on Senate bills; meanwhile, the House resisted and took recesses to push the Senate to pass House bills. Thursday morning, the Senate concurred with the $6.6 billion education budget and promptly adjourned. The House processed final messages and quickly followed to end session.

House avoids vote on S.280

The priority bill to appoint local superintendents, S.280 (Brewbaker), died as House members wanting to avoid controversial issues pushed back.

Although local school leaders rallied, no vote was taken on the House floor for final passage. The growing tension and a perception that a vote might make lawmakers vulnerable in elections prevented the vote scheduled on Wednesday’s agenda.

Kudos to local school leaders who secured the majority votes needed. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our members, we are in a strong starting point for next year to finally bring Alabama the appropriate local school governance model.

Now, some county superintendents are forced to raise funds and campaign this year.Every decision elected school leaders make as they end one school year and prepare for another will continue to carry the burden of its potential impact on votes.

Healthy K-12 education budget

The Education Trust Fund budget sent to the governor will be some $146 million stronger for K-12 schools for FY19. View the breakdown in the SDE Foundation Worksheet.The Foundation program increase of $113 million includes the 2.5 percent pay raise and fringe benefits.

INCREASES

• Salaries:$54 million
  
• Fringe benefits:$17 million
  
• Transportation:$8.7 million
  
• School Nurses:$800,000
  
• Tech Coordinators:$1.9 million
  
• Current Units:$1.5 million
  
• Fleet Renewal:$6,344 to $7,109/bus
  
• OCE:$17,533 to $17,950/unit*
  

*Note:Of the $14 million increase to OCE, $12.3 million funds the pay raise to support staff who are funded in OCE; the new dollars left directly for OCE is $1.7 million.

The budget importantly moved the needle toward restoring classroom funding cuts made in the recent Great Recession. Here is a comparison for classroom funding then and now:

2008  2018

Classroom supplies$525 $536

Technology$350 $300

Library Enhancement$200 $96

Professional Development$90 $90

Textbooks $75 $70

Common Purchase $200$0

The budget also increased:

Pre-K:$18.5 million

Higher Ed:$42 million

Community Colleges:$18 million

 

Bills that died in final week

H.236 (Pettus) — School resource officers — would have authorized a federal, state or local certified law enforcement officer, retired in good standing, with at least 20 years’ experience to serve as an SRO.

H.225 (Hill) — Juvenile code revision —would have enacted a comprehensive rework of the juvenile code largely drafted with input from juvenile court judges and juvenile probationary officers.The changes would have implications for school officials and processes for juveniles in their jurisdiction.

H.356 (Boyd) — Single-dose EpiPens— would have amended current law to specifically allow the possession and self administration of single-dose auto-injectable epinephrine by a school student; and named the statute the Kyle Grady Act.

H.435 (Ainsworth) — Arming school staff — would have permitted school personnel to carry guns in school subject to training and extensive emergency plans and policies.

H.447 (Collins) — School safety task force — would have reconstituted the Alabama Task Force on School Safety and Security to annually study educational and safety laws, make legislative recommendations.

H.498 (Baker) — PLOP option for retirees — would have allowed retirees a 5th option from TRS; provided a partial lump sum of up to 24 months of allowance as an up-front distribution with reduced benefits thereafter.

S.280 (Brewbaker)— Appointed superintendents — would have transitioned the remaining elected county school superintendent positions to appointed offices beginning in the terms ending after 2021.

S.364 (Orr) —Bond financing — would have added requirements for local boards to complete before entering bond finance requirements; involved the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts.

S.391 (Melson) — Bible electives — Would have allowed public schools to offer elective courses on the study of the Bible.

 

Pending governor’s signature

H.174 (Poole) — Education pay raise — would provide a 2.5 percent pay raise to education employees.

H.179 (Poole) — $41m K-12 supplemental — would provide a $41 million supplemental appropriated to K-12 this year. Funding from the Advancement & Technology Fund can be used in repairs and deferred maintenance; classroom instructional support; insurance for facilities; transportation; or acquisition or purchase of technology, and now as amended, can be used for school security.

H.194 (Weaver) —Medical DNR for minors — would authorize a portable DNR for minors.

H.202 (Weaver) —Limited DNR in schools — would narrowly incorporate a DNR order for minors in school settings. Only school nurses bound by the DNR order; liability immunity provided for employees.

H.261 (Lovvorn)—AL Math & Science Teacher Education Program — AMSTEP would provide federal education loan repayment awards to eligible public school teachers, with an additional amount available to those who teach in areas with acute shortages.

H.366 (Knight) — Student bullying — would provide the Jamari Terrell Williams Act and updates current law to include cyberbullying; require schools programmatically address the issue with students/faculty and review resources.

S.21 (Dial) — 13th check for retirees — would provide a one-time lump sum to education retirees. The formula provides one dollar for every month in the years of an education retiree’s service. The funding would come from a PEEHIP reserve savings account in the Teachers Retirement System.

S.26 (Chambliss) — Annalyn’s Law — would amend notification process; require school boards to implement a policy for the supervision and monitoring of students identified as juvenile sex offenders.

S.101 (Orr) — Gifted program grant — would give the State Department of Education authority to offer competitive grants for gifted programs. Local school boards must provide up to a five percent match of any grant funds awarded.

S.151 (Smitherman) — Terrorist threat — would specify threats to schools and churches are included in the Class C felony crime.

S.212 (Orr) — Cyber school — would create a statewide residential Alabama cyber technology & engineering school to be located in Huntsville area with its own board of trustees.

S.318 (Orr) — Data breach notification — would provide protocol upon unauthorized acquisition of personally identifying information.

S.323 (Pittman)— ATF option and loan— would add school safety programs as an authorized spending option for the ATF in the Rolling Reserve Act. The governor amended the bill to authorize schools to borrow funding from the Budget Stabilization Fund after a natural disaster.For schools to be eligible for the loan, the governor must have declared a state of emergency. Schools can borrow no more than 10 percent of the fund, and repayment must be made within two years.A payment is required from insurance proceeds and a penalty of 8 percent will be added if not timely repaid.

S.365 (Figures) – Rosa Parks Day – would allow local entities to observe Mrs. Rosa L. Parks Day on first day of December.