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LEGISLATIVE
Dr. Vic Wilson Executive Director CLAS
The 2022 Legislative Session began in early January and lasted for one week before Governor Ivey called a special session within the regular session to deal with the $770 million in ARPA funds. The call was specifically for these funds, and the legislature was quick to handle the process, and within 10 days, we were back in regular session. These funds will be disbursed to the state to help with infrastructure, sewers, and water projects. Another round of these funds will arrive in the summer, and Governor Ivey may call another special session later this year to handle the distribution of these funds. Our respite from the regular session came to a screeching halt in early February, and we found ourselves facing several school-related bills. The most pressing early issue was that of vouchers. The Parent Choice Bill was filed by Senator Del Marsh, and every educational entity spoke against the bill due to the lack of accountability of the funds and the amount of funds that would have been taken from the Educational Trust Fund. Early figures stated $420 million dollars would be taken from the ETF to allow parents to send students to home schools or private schools. The bill came out of committee, but opposition within the senate led the sponsor to re-work the bill, and it has not yet made it to the floor as of the time of this article. 14
Nonetheless, the sponsor is working hard to get this bill passed, and we will continue to fight for accountability and security for the ETF. The bill has undergone several changes; however, we maintain the bill is about accountability. State dollars should include state accountability: A-F, retention, ACAP, et. al. Another bill that has been filed is the Numeracy Act Bill. This bill models the recently passed Literacy Act except for the retention provision. This bill does NOT have a retention component to it, and the sponsor is working with us, to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be heard about this important bill. To be clear, we do need work on math, but we also need to include educators and administrators who have knowledge of the methods needed for positive impact in math education. To be clear, we are not against bills that help us raise math scores and numeracy of our students. We simply believe the aspects of the bill should include educators at every step. The Governor’s budget looks very promising, and we are looking forward to working with the leaders in the house and senate to get the budget across the finish line. In the current iteration, the budget has several important increases in funding to help with literacy, math, mental health, nurses, and much more. The budget also includes a 4% increase for educators. The budget has Winter Issue 2022
