Time is running out for the Alabama Legislature to work out a general fund budget.
State agency heads told members of the Senate budget committee yesterday that proposed cuts will close circuit clerk offices, slash Medicaid services and send state prisons into a danger zone of crowding and violence.
Chairman Arthur Orr says there are close to $150 million in revenue generating bills under discussion that could reduce the cuts if they win legislative approval.
One would transfer $80 million in use tax collections from the education budget and give the money to the General Fund. Other proposals would offset losses to the education budget. Another bill would allow state boards to raise fees to reflect Consumer Price Index changes.
Farmers in Alabama may be able to get help keeping their crops from drying up. APR’s Pat Duggins has more on grants to improve irrigation….
Alabama farmers have until the end of the week to apply for grants from the Alabama Farmers Federation and the National Resources Conservation Service.
The two groups are offering about one and a half million dollars to help farms improve their irrigation systems. It’s apparently an ongoing problem. The 2012 Census of Agriculture found that Alabama has almost three million acres of farmable land. But only one hundred thousand of those acres are irrigated.
Studies at the University of Alabama in Huntsville say the water supply isn't the problem. Researchers say there’s plenty of water in the state, but a lack of federal money has led to substandard irrigation systems on much of Alabama's cropland.
The hope is that new and better irrigation systems will make Alabama's farmers more productive -- and boost the state economy.
The non-profit group Teach for America is celebrating its fifth anniversary in Alabama. Supporters of the teacher recruitment program will gather in Birmingham tonight.
The organization works to attract college graduates or professionals to become public school teachers.
Executive Director Khadijah Abdullah** says one challenge is finding experts in math, science, and engineering to enter the classroom…
“For example, when we first started placing in the Black Belt, that placement was based on that type of teacher shortage, that you would not have students in classroom who were juniors or seniors who would have a math teacher. And when you think about it, that’s how we prepare students to be college or career ready.”
Teach for America in Alabama has attracted two hundred and fifty teachers in our state. They serve over thirty five thousand public school students in both rural and urban communities.