Hunter: Education wins in budget fight
Mary Scott Hunter represents District 8 on the Alabama State Board of Education. (CONTRIBUTED)
HUNTSVILLE – Mary Scott Hunter believes public education in Alabama won the battle as legislators approved the state’s 2016 budget.
A member of Alabama State Board of Education, Hunter represents District 8, covering Limestone, Madison, Jackson, DeKalb and Etowah counties.
“Alabama public education won a tough budget fight this year. There were many calls to reduce the education budget. In the end, the Alabama legislature and governor did decide to continue investing in Alabama public education,” Hunter said in her recent email newsletter.
Hunter, a fiscal conservative, was pleased that the legislature did not raise taxes excessively. “As an advocate for public education, I join with thousands of my education colleagues and stakeholders across our state and thank our political leaders for their foresight,” she said.
The $1.76 billion General Fund budget that passed contains $166 million in new revenue, Hunter said. This revenue depends of several sources:
* $70 million from 25-cent per pack cigarette tax increase.
* $80 million Use Tax transfer from Education Trust Fund to General Fund.
* $8 million from 15-cent tax on medical prescriptions earmarked for Medicaid.
* New ‘bed tax’ on nursing homes, netting $8 million also earmarked for Medicaid.
“This legislation transfers $80 million (or 53 percent) of use-tax receipts to the General Fund from the Education Trust Fund and leaves the rest in the Education Trust Fund,” Hunter said.
The legislature’s changes to the education budget’s Rolling Reserve Act “is expected to free up more money for classrooms from dollars that would have otherwise been deposited into a stabilization fund for prevention of proration,” she said.
In addition, legislators created the Education Trust Fund Advancement and Technology Fund, which will authorize “one-time appropriations for technology in schools in good economic years,” Hunter said.
To contact Hunter, call 1-888-531-1312, email to hunter@maryscotthunter.com or visit maryscotthunter.com, Facebook/Mary Scott Hunter or Twitter #MaryScottHunter.
