4 minute read
Legislative Update
Whitney Miller-Nichols, CLAS Director of Governmental Affairs
The 2023 regular legislative session saw over 200 bills filed related to education, impacting everything from education funding to consequences for students caught vaping at school. By the time the Legislature adjourned sine die on June 12, the body sent 70 education-related bills to the Governor for her signature, with a total price tag of $540M a year by FY2027. If you’ve been in education awhile, that seems like a big number (and it is) but the Legislature also declined to approve over 130 bills that would have added another $940M annual hit to the ETF by FY2028. Hearing from constituents has a lot to do with a bill’s success or failure; sometimes just a handful of calls can spur a legislator’s action. Don’t underestimate the power of contacting your legislators.
The bills most notable for CLAS members:
HB41 (Reynolds) Law Enforcement Retirees as SROs and Corrections Officers. Allows school systems to hire retired law enforcement officers who are APOST-certified as SROs and pay them up to $52,000 annually without impacting the officer’s retirement payout.
HB45 (Gray) Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. Requires periodic training for coaches on the signs of Sudden Cardiac Arrest as a condition of coaching eligibility and requires that parents and students sign an annual acknowledgement statement of the risks of Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
HB109 (Collins) Alabama Credential Quality and Transparency Act. Accelerates the State Board of Education’s addition of a College and Career Ready Indicator for high school graduation (Alabama Administrative Code 290-3-1-.02(8)(f)) to apply to the graduating class of 2025-2026.
HB165 (Whitt) High School Financial Literacy. Requires that beginning with the 2024-2025 ninth graders, students complete a financial literacy course as a requirement for graduation.
HB364 (Hurst) Cash for Sports Admission. Requires all public K-12 schools to accept cash as a form of payment for admission to schoolsponsored sporting events.
HB430 (Garrett) Literacy Act revisions. Allows assessments approved by the State Superintendent of Education for the 2021-2022 school year and by the Literacy Task Force for the 2023-2024 school year to remain on the approved list through the 2025-2026 school year. Other changes include requiring the Literacy Task Force to approve all content for age-appropriateness and to make public all rubrics regardless of a selection status.
SB52 (Orr) Alabama Safe at Schools Act modified. Adds adrenal insufficiency as a medical condition for which a school nurse or medication assistant can administer injections as well as a condition for which the school must provide care at school or school-sponsored events.
SB267 (Chesteen) Athletic Trainer Secondary School Incentive Program. Establishes the Athletic Trainer Secondary School Incentive Program, which would annually provide $2M for $7,500 grants to local boards of education for athletic trainer incentive pay at rural 1A, 2A or 3A schools or Title I secondary schools, starting in the 2024-2025 school year.
SB300 (Orr) Alabama School Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act. CLAS collaborated with Sen. Arthur Orr and Rep. Alan Baker to pass the Alabama School Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act.
I am honored to be the first Director of Governmental Relations at CLAS. My goal is to be the first (but not the last) voice a legislator hears on an issue of concern to our members. To make that voice effective, it also must have the weight of your support behind it. That means each and every member of CLAS needs to be speaking to legislators about what is best for your students and schools. You’ll get guidance from our advocacy team on the nuts and bolts of an issue, but it will be up to you to fill in the blanks for legislators, explaining how a bill will impact the students and schools in their district. If legislators ask you questions, don’t hesitate to share those questions with me so that I can get them an answer. I’m here as a resource for you, too! If you need more information on a legislative issue or have suggestions for bills, let me know.
