Alabama top stories in brief

• On Sept. 6, Auburn University’s Board of Trustees approved a 3% raise in the cost of tuition for all students. This raise in tuition applies to both in-state and out-of-state tuition, and includes both the main campus and Auburn University at Montgomery. In addition to the raise in tuition, they also raised the cost of housing at their main campus by 3% along with increasing cost of dining. AU will receive $389 million this year from Alabama’s Education Trust Fund, an increase of over 7%, but according to officials, state funds only make up 21% of the AU’s income, while tuition provides 42.5% of its revenue. AU last raised tuition in the fall of 2023. 

• Alabama’s gross sales tax receipts are expected to decline this year. While this is the first time that a decline has been seen since 2009, according to Kirk Fulford, deputy director of the Fiscal Division of the Legislative Services of Alabama, it was expected due to a cut made  for groceries and a higher than usual growth rates during 2021 and 2022 following the COVID-19 pandemic. “We expected a decline in sales tax revenues this year due to the reduction in the sales tax on groceries and the return to normal growth pattern otherwise,” he told Alabama Reflector. The revenue generated by sales tax goes towards the Education Trust Fund. Despite the reduction in gross revenue from sales tax, the net sales tax put into the ETF has seen a lower decrease than the gross, and the ETF itself has seen a 1.2% increase. According to Fulford, this is in part due to the fact that some of the expenses from programs like SNAP are less than last year. The net revenue is deposited into the ETF after the deductions from SNAP and some other programs have been removed. Additionally, there has been an uptick in income tax, particularly corporate income tax. Chris Sanders, the communications director for Alabama Arise — a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Alabamians marginalized by poverty — spoke positively of the lower deduction rates. “It’s one of the biggest benefits of the grocery tax reduction, which is families being able to use money that otherwise would have gone toward the grocery tax to go buy other things, you know, to be able to buy another gallon of milk or another loaf of bread, or to go buy other essential items like clothes or medicine or school supplies,” he said. 

• New data released by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama showed notable improvement in English Language Arts scores for Alabama students, particularly students in the third grade. Improvement was seen across grades 3-8, but 63% of third graders scored proficiently in ELA — a significant percentage as compared to last year’s 53% proficiency rate. These results were sourced from the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program. PARCA acknowledged that several different factors helped to increase proficiency scores, including the Alabama Literacy Act — which retains third graders who do not meet proficiency on ELA testing — funding for the Alabama Reading Initiative, and the science of reading instruction model, which serves as a guide when teaching students how to read. The largest jump in scoring came from students who are economically disadvantaged. Thomas Spencer, a senior research associate at PARCA, said, “We saw reading scores earlier in the summer that showed an increase in reading sufficiency, but this shows that the schools are not just getting kids over that reading sufficiency line, but are moving students up to proficiency and beyond.” 

• Kent Davis, the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs commissioner, has been called to meet with the State Board of Veterans Affairs on Sept. 10 after Gov. Kay Ivey announced that he would be removed from the board. Ivey cites “mismanagement and a failure to cooperate with other state agencies” in regard to Davis. Davis was requested to deliver his resignation to Ivey by 5 p.m. on Sept. 5, but instead stated that he sent Ivey a refusal to resign. Davis posted his recognition of his refusal letter to his Facebook account, in one line stating, “I respectfully disagree with the inaccurate claims made against the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs this week. We have continuously been transparent in our department’s mission and day-to-day operations in our service to Alabama’s 400,000 veterans…” However, it remains unclear as to whether Ivey received the letter. Specific reasoning for Davis’ request to resign from Ivey include $7 million of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act being given to Veterans Affairs with an absence of grant applications until January from Davis’s department — the initial deadline for grant applications being June 1 — which resulted in comments about compliance and fund usage from other departments, including questions about grant funding possibly being used for lobbying. The intended usage of the funds was for veterans’ mental health programming in Alabama, with Ivey stating that the delays significantly affected departmental relationships with Davis.

• The Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Board of Control passed several measures to avoid a potential financial crisis during a meeting on Sept. 4. PEEHIP will be requesting that the legislature provide $904 per active member for the employer contribution, which is $104 more than the current rate. Additionally, PEEHIP requested that the Retiree Trust Board transfer up to $79.4 million in the 2026 fiscal year to PEEHIP to help cover cost, this amount was adjusted to $118.9 million during the Alabama Retired Education Employees’ Health Care Trust Board of Control meeting, which followed directly after. PEEHIP’s board also discussed raising some non-spousal premiums and spousal premiums with no other dependents from $65 to $114 per month and increasing copays to $5 for medicare eligible retirees and dependents, but did not include them in their motion. State Superintendent Eric Mackey, who made the motion to approve the changes, suggested that the board wait and see if the potential increases in premiums and copay are necessary so that they have the chance to offer more warning to retirees.

Our articles you might have missed

• “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” In this month’s edition of The Breathing Room, Hannah Irvin echoes Mary Oliver’s famous poem, “The Summer Day,” as she invites readers to consider what to do with their own wild and precious lives.

Announcements

• September’s addition of The Longleaf Hiker was delayed slightly, and will come out this Tuesday. 

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