Alabama lawmakers say they want to give more money to schools that are enrolling more English learners, students with disabilities, and students from poor and rural areas.

But with the legislative session now underway, it’s still unclear what support will look like, and how much more funding schools could get.

Alabama currently funds its schools based on student headcount, rather than specific needs, and is among just a handful of states to continue to use an enrollment-based formula. In a report approved Feb. 13 by a legislative commission on school funding, authors urged “critically needed” changes to the state’s decades-old school funding formula and laid out options for switching to a new system.

“If we give extra money, we at least want to have a new kind of baseline or foundational level and incrementally increase it as the revenues predict for the foreseeable future, rather than get a little aggressive and a little hasty and have to take it back,” Sen. Arthur Orr, who is leading the effort, told the commission Thursday.

The report doesn’t back any one plan over the other, but legislators seem to be leaning toward a “hybrid” approach, which would allow the legislature to gradually increase funding toward high-needs schools while keeping the current system intact. Commission leaders will present the report to the full legislature to get input on possible legislation. A change, if acted on quickly, could go into effect as soon as 2026.

Several superintendents in North Alabama, home to a growing population of immigrants, said updated funding would allow them to better support English learners. Some systems used federal pandemic relief funds to pay for some of those services, and have had to lay off translators, bilingual aides and EL teachers as those funds dried up.

In other districts, as many as one in five students require special education services or disability accommodations.

“We’re Title I, we’re a CEP system, we also have a high special ed population and a high EL population, so the hybrid model would definitely benefit DeKalb County,” DeKalb Superintendent Wayne Lyles said. “There’s a lot of additional resources needed to address our special populations.”

But as the state comes down from a windfall of federal funding and record tax revenues, it’s unclear how much money the legislature will be willing to commit. Experts estimated it could take up to $165 million extra to fully fund a new model. Gov. Kay Ivey, meanwhile, plans to take $100 million out of a reserve fund to kickstart the program in FY26.

A student-weighted formula would require lawmakers to come up with a new base amount to allocate to every district, while some systems would get more money based on the types of students they serve. Lawmakers have discussed weighting funds for groups like English learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students, as well as gifted and rural students.

A hybrid option, on the other hand, would still allow lawmakers to allocate money for different student needs, but it wouldn’t change the state’s current Foundation Program, which funds teacher salaries and other operational expenses.

Several commission members said a hybrid plan seems to be the best option to get the ball rolling on more support. If the legislature eventually approves a new student-weighted formula, any change would likely be phased in over a period of about five years.

“What we do, we can always – this will evolve,” Rep. Danny Garrett, committee co-chair, told reporters. “Right now you have a lot of overlap in rural and poverty and ELL, and the money we’re already committing to those groups, we will continue to probably reallocate how we do that.”

How would more funding help local districts?

Research reviewed by the commission shows that spending $1,000 more per student in high-poverty districts helped narrow test score gaps between low-income and high-income school systems. Reform efforts have also yielded as much as 72 extra days of learning over time, researchers found.

Experts say targeted funding can improve student outcomes if leaders are intentional about what they’re using it for and how they’re keeping track of progress. Lawmakers believe a new model will allow districts more flexibility to make those decisions.

“What we saw coming out of the pandemic with schools that have been historically underfunded, when you get an infusion of money from the federal government where you can do creative and innovative things to expose students to things that they haven’t been exposed to, they respond to that,” said Birmingham Superintendent Mark Sullivan.

The state currently sends about $7,700 per pupil to school systems to be used for basic expenses. Some districts may also rely on a number of federal grants to support certain student needs, but those also are highly restrictive. Anything extra – like specialized staff, college prep, or afterschool programs – typically comes out of local funds, which vary widely depending on local property tax rates.

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Birmingham City Schools serves about 90% of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, as well as a growing number of students who require English language and special education support.

Sullivan said the extra funds would allow the district to extend summer programs and resources for students whose families can’t afford enrichment opportunities outside of school. It could also help sustain programs to improve nutrition and mental health.

“If your brain is swimming in stress hormones, it’s very difficult to learn,” he said. “And so providing extra funding allows the schools to mitigate some of that.”

Ivey plans to increase funding for English learners by $10 million this year. Currently, those funds are administered through a state grant, and are weighted based on how concentrated a district’s English learner population is. Lawmakers said they’d like to explore more options for student weights, as well as some transitional funding to monitor students after they test out of English learner programs.

Legislators stated interest in increasing support for certain groups of students. But they might not yet be on the same page about where to focus additional money.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said he wants to see a larger infusion of funds to help academically struggling schools catch up. Rep. Troy Stubbs, R-Wetumpka, asked how lawmakers might assist rural schools with transportation.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said she hopes districts can get hands-on assistance to ensure they’re spending funds wisely. She’d also like to see a stronger emphasis on academic goals and targets.

“I don’t think you can just throw money and it suddenly improves,” she said. “I think you have to have the quality professional development, the people who are willing to do the hard work to do that, and the people who are willing to change how they’re doing things.”

Student weights will have to be considered in any upcoming legislation, as well as measures for accountability and transparency. Garrett said it was possible that a final bill could be approved in the current legislative session.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey said it’s likely a final model will follow the governor’s recommendations, which emphasize high-poverty and rural schools, as well as students with disabilities.

“I think those are all very good moves,” he said. “I think the governor and her team got this one right, and I’m glad to see that the legislature’s agreed and they’re going to jump on board, and I hope that all those bills move really fast this session.”