With new state funding on the way, Alabama school districts could soon be hiring more reading specialists, expanding summer programs or offering targeted support for English learners.
That’s the kind of investment lawmakers envisioned when they passed the RAISE Act — a new funding formula aimed at meeting the needs of students who require more resources to succeed.
But along with the additional money come new expectations: Districts must show how they plan to use the funding and whether it leads to measurable gains in student achievement.
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This approach follows the model used in Alabama’s recent literacy and numeracy initiatives, which tie increased resources to stronger accountability measures. Supporters of the RAISE Act say the same principle applies here.
“From the beginning of this process, state leaders have been talking about more money and more accountability, hand in hand,” A+ Education Partnership President Mark Dixon told Alabama Daily News. “The goal here is to move the needle for kids and we’ve got to make sure that if we’re going to invest this money, that we want to make sure that it is spent well over time.”
Dixon’s organization helped form the Every Child Alabama Coalition, a group of education and business leaders focused on replacing Alabama’s outdated funding formula.
The RAISE Act adds $166 million in targeted funding for high-needs students for the 2025–26 school year, with $108 million in new funding and $58 million repurposed from existing Education Trust Fund allocations that already support specific student groups.
Student groups receiving weights include students in poverty, special education students, English learners, gifted students and charter school students in districts where local funding exceeds the value of 10 mills.
House Education Policy Chair Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said accountability was essential to gaining broad support for the new formula.
“What I really like about our (law), it has a really good accountability system set up so that if we give any district more money… then we expect to see a growth in that student achievement,” she told Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal.
‘Long-term process’
Senate Education Budget Chairman Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, agreed, while also cautioning that results will take time.
“It’s not fair to give a mid-sized or large school system a couple million dollars and say ‘oh by the way, next year we’re going to see how your test scores are,’” he said. “This is a long-term process.”
Lawmakers committed to fund $125 million in new funding in FY27 and $150 million in FY28.
“We’ve got to do our part as far as the legislative side to fulfill our commitment of funding for these subcategories,” Orr said. “And if we don’t do that, then the accountability measures, while we always expect improvement, we can’t tie it to the increased funding if we don’t live up to our commitment.”
With that legislative commitment in place, the next step is implementation — starting with a set of new responsibilities for the Alabama State Department of Education and local school districts.
The first requirement is for the ALSDE to create a RAISE Act “guide,” outlining what data schools must collect and when to report it. That must be completed by July 1.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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