The Alabama Education Trust Fund will collect enough state income taxes and other levies to meet its spending target for the fiscal year and avoid cuts in budgeted spending from proration. The trust fund collected $4.25 billion in October through June, an increase of $269.9 million or 6.8 percent, from
Summer is here and session is out, but the Governor’s still staying busy. Governor Signs Bill to Get Schools to Buy Locally: Governor Robert Bentley has signed into law a bill designed to make it easier for local farmers to sell produce to the state’s public schools. The Farm to School
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange was the keynote speaker at a June 8 rally in Birmingham sponsored by an organization that opposes the Obama administration’s mandate that employers provide workers with birth control measures. Also speaking at the noon rally was Michael Warsaw, president of the Eternal Word Television Network.
State officials announced that the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 percent in April to 7.4 percent in May. The slight increase is being attributed education employees who aren’t working in the summer months and to new high school and college graduates entering the workforce. The state’s unemployment rate a year
Wednesday, May 16, was the final day of the 2012 regular session. The House joined the Senate in giving final approval to bills making several revisions in Alabama’s immigration law and to raise fees for court cases. They also gave final approval to legislation combining the Department of Industrial Relations
Governor Robert Bentley has signed legislation that requires Alabama children to begin attending school or be home schooled at 6 years old. The mandatory school age had been 7. The new law allows children to still begin school at 7 if their parents make a request in writing to their
Protesters surrounded entrances to the State House as the House and Senate debated changes to Alabama’s toughest-in-the-nation immigration law. Seven of the protesters were arrested after they tried to block entry to each chamber of the Legislature. Four were cuffed outside the Senate, and three more were detained when they
One of the primary responsibilities of the Legislature is to pass budgets for the operation of state government and public education. They accomplished that feat on the last day of the regular session with the passage of an education budget. After much debate, the final bill reduces spending for public
Tuesday, the 27th day of the 2012 regular session: The House Ways and Means-Education Committee discussed, but took no action on, the $5.5 billion education budget, but approved a bill to provide tax breaks for developing large tourist attractions. The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to establish the crime
State School Superintendent Tommy Bice is recommending a complete overhaul of the state’s testing program. Bice says it is time to raise performance standards. His proposed changes include requiring higher minimum scores necessary for a student to pass and adding more components that consider more than multiple-choice questions. He says
