MONTGOMERY: Alabama is expected to have more state revenue to spend on education next year than this year, although official estimates have not yet been determined, legislators heard today.
The legislative session begins Feb. 2, and as always, the main task for lawmakers will be to pass the education and General Fund budgets. Many legislators were at the State House today for the start of General Fund budget hearings and a meeting of the House Ways and Means Education Committee.
Kirk Fulford, House fiscal officer for the Legislative Fiscal Office, said LFO analysts would meet with their economist again before nailing down the revenue estimates in time for the start of the session. The budgets will be for fiscal year 2017, which starts Oct. 1. The current education budget, for fiscal year 2016, calls for spending $6 billion from the Education Trust Fund.
The revenue estimate for next year is expected to be more than that but less than a $6.4 billion cap set by the Rolling Reserve Act for fiscal year 2017, Fulford said. The cap changes each year because it’s based on a rolling 15-year history of revenues, with some adjustments.
Rep. Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, the Ways and Means Education Committee chairman, said it’s clear that the legislator will have more to appropriate for education in fiscal year 2017 than it did in this fiscal year.
“We’re just not sure what that number is at this point,” Poole said. … “We’ll have the certified estimates right before the session starts, which is the normal timeline.” The prospect of increased money for education is likely to spark intense debate about how to use it.
State Superintendent Tommy Bice has suggested a 5 percent pay raise for teachers. Public school employees have received one cost of living raise in the last eight years, a 2 percent raise in fiscal year 2014. Gov. Robert Bentley has called for a $20 million increase for prekindergarten. Poole said there are many needs, and lawmakers will need to define priorities over the coming weeks.
“It’s not hard to identify priorities,” Poole said. “But it’s hard to identify how many of those you can reach and how effectively until we have our revenue estimate. There are lots of needs.” The Legislature is not spending all the education revenue the state receives. Revenues to the ETF exceeded spending by about $140 million in fiscal year 2015.
As required by the Rolling Reserve Act, most of that money went into a budget stabilization fund, intended to offset budget cuts when tax revenues decline during economic slumps. For fiscal year 2016, revenues are expected to exceed spending by about $190 million, meaning more money will go into the stabilization fund at the end of the year.
