The Alabama Legislature has approved a nearly $5.8 billion education budget that will fund a 2 percent pay raise for K-12 employees and give extra money to all levels of education.
The House approved the budget 70-26 Thursday afternoon. The budget got approved in the Senate 22-11 on Tuesday and now goes to the governor for his review. The budget provides a 3.6 percent increase in spending after several years of recession-riddled budgets.
The budget is smaller than the governor recommended when the legislative session started in February because legislative budget committee chairman expect new private school tax credits to reduce revenue by $40 million. Executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, Henry Mabry, says he expects the cost to be much higher.