Alabama lawmakers recently gave final approval to a bill that will significantly reduce the number of public school principals eligible for an annual $5,000 stipend, from about 1,200 schools to just 420.
Senate Bill 303, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, narrowed the definition of which schools qualify as “high-poverty” or “low performing.” Supporters say the move restores the original intent of a program approved two years ago to retain and support school leaders in the state’s most challenging schools, not to provide bonuses system wide.
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“We did not intend for 80% of our principals to get that second stipend,” said Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, who carried the bill on the House floor. “This is not an entitlement program for principals. This is designed to be something to improve the leadership.”
Under the School Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act, passed in 2023, all principals and assistant principals are eligible for a first stipend — $10,000 for principals and $5,000 for assistant principals — if they complete a leadership development program defined in the law.
The goal of what’s referred to as the Principal Act is to improve the effectiveness and retention of school leaders, which can, in turn, improve student achievement.
A second stipend — $5,000 for principals and $2,500 for assistant principals — is available to leaders at schools considered high-poverty or low-performing. But the broad criteria used for the 2024-25 school year, the program’s first year, meant that nearly 80% of Alabama schools qualified for the extra payment, far more than lawmakers expected or intended.
That happened because the law tied eligibility for the second stipend to the federal Community Eligibility Provision which allows schools to serve free meals to all students if a certain percentage of students are directly certified as low-income.
When the Principal Act was passed, that threshold was 40%. But later that year, the Biden administration dropped it to 25%, greatly expanding CEP eligibility nationwide and in Alabama.
As a result, nearly all of Alabama’s 139 traditional school districts, except for five, could meet the high-poverty definition. All 14 public charter schools met the definition of high-poverty under the lower percentage.
Addressing unintended expansion
To address the unintended expansion, SB303 decouples the state stipend from the federal definition. Garrett said lawmakers revised the eligibility criteria to better target the incentive toward school with the greatest challenges.
Instead, beginning with the 2025-26 school year, to receive the second stipend, a school must now meet at least one of the following four criteria:
- At least 75% of students in poverty, as measured through direct certification,
- A ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade on the state’s annual report card,
- A designation as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement school under federal accountability provisions, or
- A designation as a full support school under the Alabama Literacy or Numeracy Act.
About 420 schools meet at least one of those qualifications, according to data from the Alabama Department of Education.
For the current school year, stipends are still being paid under the broader criteria, with roughly 1,200 of Alabama’s 1,500 public schools eligible for the second stipend if requirements are met.
The stipends are in addition to the school leader’s salary. Principals typically work under contract and do not receive tenure in their leadership role. State data shows the average principal salary for the 2024-25 school year is $111,000.
The Principal Act’s leadership program also includes mentoring for new principals and requires participants to attend at least five days of approved, high-quality professional development. Federal data show that about one-third of Alabama principals have fewer than two years of experience.
Many of the schools that still qualify for the second stipend under the new rules meet multiple criteria. For example, a school may have more than 75% of students in poverty, earn a ‘D’ on the report card and be designated as a CSI school — stacking multiple risk factors for low achievement and high school leader turnover.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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