Alabama Senate passes education budget that would raise spending 1 percent

The Alabama Senate passed its long-stalled education budget Tuesday, closing out two days of opposition from a lawmaker who argued for hours that the bill is an unacceptable continuation of years of state funding cuts in K-12 schools.

The budget calls for spending $6.4 billion from the Education Trust Fund during the year that starts Oct. 1. That's $90 million more than this year, a 1.4 percent increase.

Before lawmakers voted 29-2 to advance the measure, Sen. Paul Bussman pulled a dry-erase board into the chamber and did calculations showing that the last five years of budgets have slashed nearly $43 million from state grade schools.

The budget for K-12 schools has increased in recent years in total dollars, and the 2018 budget would continue that trend. But Bussman pointed out that the percentage share of the Education Trust Fund going to K-12 has declined.

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