CLAS School Leader - Summer 2023

Dr. Vic Wilson CLAS Executive Director

The 2023 Legislative session began way back in early March, and by the time you read this update in late May, the session will have only a few days remaining. The session began with a special called session by the governor to deal with the last remaining ARPA funds, and that session lasted for two weeks. The regular session then began and lasted one week before a spring break week during the last week of March. When the legislature returned in early April, they began working at a very quick pace to pass legislation and the both the Education Trust Fund and the General Fund budgets.

As you know, the legislature is constitutionally required to do one thing, and that is pass the budget. Technically, we have two budgets, so they must pass the Education Trust Fund budget and the General Fund budget. Usually, those two events do not occur until later in the session, and in the meantime, the legislature passes many bills on education, finance, taxation, business, and more.

So, what bills have passed so far? The General Fund Budget has passed the House, and the ETF Budget has passed the Senate. Each one will go to the opposite chamber to start in the appropriate committee before moving to the chamber floor. The ETF Budget is a record amount totaling $8.8 billion dollars. In addition to this bill, the Senate has passed a $2.7 billion-dollar supplemental appropriation that came from excess revenue from tax collections. Needless to say, we are thankful for the funding.

While the supplemental appropriation includes several items that may not be related to education, it nonetheless will help schools meet important needs in the near future. Likewise, the ETF appropriates a record amount of money to K-12, Higher Ed, and Early Childhood. The budget includes a 2% raise for all educational employees, creates a savings account for rainy days, decreases the divisors in grades 4-6, increases funding for several important programs including literacy and numeracy programs, adds funding to add nurses and increase nurse pay, and much more.

With any budget, some things are not included. One very important ask from Dr. Mackey was to lower the divisors for how schools earn assistant principal and counselor units. This provision is not included in the budget; however, Senate and House leadership have committed to addressing this very important concern.

CLAS has also been working with Senator Orr on a Principal Leadership and Mentoring Bill which will apply to both principals and assistant principals. The bill would add five professional days per year for principals and assistant principals; create a mentoring program for all first- and second-year principals; create a design team to build a principal leadership academy; and strengthen the principal evaluation system. Under this bill, principals who complete the five extra days of professional learning would be compensated $10,000 per year in a stipend, and assistant principals who complete five extra days of professional learning would be compensated $5,000 per year in a stipend. School administrators would be compensated in the same manner as National Board Certified Teachers. See the talking points on page 22 for additional information about this bill.

We are working on several bills, and we are watching many more. You can view the bills we are tracking at clasleaders.org/advocacy. Let us know if you have any questions on legislative issues. I also encourage you to visit the PrincipAL Truth Podcast and read the Friday Updates to gain more insight on events taking place in Montgomery, around the state, and about education.

You are the key to effective legislation. Craft your narrative, or someone will craft it for you. Thank you for everything you do for those under you care. You are all rock stars in my book.