Unlocking Alabama’s Education Windfall: A Breakdown of the $6.5 Billion Supplemental Funding Split by Lawmakers

On February 4, 2025, Alabama lawmakers will return to address the state’s $525 million surplus from the Education Trust Fund. This is the fourth year in a row that the state has excess funds due to smart budgeting and a boom in tax collections.

However, a recent analysis shows that K–12 education has received a small portion of these extra funds. Instead, higher education and reserve funds have seen significant increases.

From 2021 to 2024, lawmakers allocated almost $6.5 billion in supplemental tax revenue from the Education Trust Fund. Here’s how it broke down:

• K-12 schools: $980 million (15%)
• Higher education: $1.5 billion (22%)
• Other entities: $1.2 billion (18%)
• Reserve funds: $2.9 billion (45%)

In regular budgets, K-12 education receives 68% of the funds, while higher education gets 26%. This disparity in supplemental funding is concerning for K-12 leaders, especially as schools face higher costs and work to recover from the challenges of the pandemic.

Caps on spending from the Education Trust Fund have been around for some time, but recent record tax revenues have brought more attention to how supplemental funds are allocated. Advocates for K–12 education argue that if the caps weren’t in place, K–12 schools would receive a larger slice of the supplemental pie.

Ryan Hollingsworth, executive director of School Superintendents of Alabama, expressed frustration over this trend. He noted that if these funds had been part of the regular budget, K–12 schools would have received a fairer share of the money.

Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey shares this view. He insists that K–12 schools should be treated equally when public funds are available, including supplemental budgets. For the next fiscal year, he is advocating for funds to be divided more similarly to the regular budget.

House Education Budget Chair Danny Garrett, however, takes a different stance. He explains that the legislature aims to make strategic, one-time investments to meet the state’s pressing needs. While they consider how much goes to K–12, higher education, and workforce development, there are no strict rules about fund distribution.

Garrett hopes that funds are used to create the best outcomes for Alabama’s future—be it through workforce improvements, educational enhancements, or school safety.

For more details on this topic, you can read the full article here.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News. It is reprinted with permission.