2023 Legislative Agenda

A+ is working to build an Alabama where...

EVERY CHILD HAS A STRONG START

FIRST CLASS PRE-K:

Expansion of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program is a proven investment in our youngest students.

Children need access to high-quality early childhood experiences to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning and achievement. Continued expansion of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K would ensure more students would have access to this nationally recognized program proven to increase long-term proficiency in reading and math.

HIGH-QUALITY CHILDCARE:

High-quality childcare sets up children for success and provides opportunities for families to participate in the workforce.

Ninety percent of a child’s brain is grown between birth and the age of 5. Expanding access to high-quality childcare will help build strong foundation for our children’s lifelong learning and achievement, especially those from low-income families, and will provide opportunities for their families to fully engage in Alabama’s workforce.

FIRST GRADE READINESS:

Ensure all Alabama students are ready for first grade by passing HB43.

If a child enters first grade without the fundamental skills learned in kindergarten, it immediately sets them back and can have a lasting impact on their success in school and life. HB43 requires students to either attend Kindergarten before First Grade or show that they are ready through an assessment. Ensuring children are prepared to learn in first grade will give them a strong foundation for future success.

EVERY CHILD CAN READ

THE ALABAMA LITERACY ACT:

Continued investment in the Alabama Literacy Act will ensure that students have the resources and supports they need in and out of the classroom to learn to read.

Currently, only half of Alabama students can read on grade level. A student who can’t read on grade level by third grade is 4x less likely to graduate high school, and a student in poverty is 13x less likely. Continued investment in the Alabama Literacy Act will support expanded training in the science of reading, interventions for struggling students, more reading coaches, and summer programs.

EVERY CHILD CAN DO
MATH ON GRADE LEVEL

THE ALABAMA NUMERACY ACT:

Alabama faces a crisis in math. Investment in the Alabama Numeracy Act will build a strong foundation in math for K-5 students.

Alabama continues to face a crisis, with only 28% of students proficient in math. This number decreases to 16% for low-income students and 11% for Black students. Last year, the Legislature passed the Alabama Numeracy Act, a comprehensive plan to build a strong foundation for students in grades K-5. Continued investment in the Numeracy Act will support growth in our lowest performing schools so they can purchase high quality instructional materials and hire math coaches and auxiliary teachers.

EVERY SCHOOL HAS A HIGH-IMPACT PRINCIPAL AND EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

HIGH-IMPACT PRINCIPALS:

Alabama needs to develop a strong principal pipeline so that every student goes to school with highly effective principal.

Like effective teachers, highly effective principals can add up to 3 months of learning in math and reading for all students in a school. Alabama needs to develop a strong principal pipeline so that every school has a well-prepared and effective principal. This should include the creation of a statewide leadership development program and modernization of our principal prep programs.

TEACHER PATHWAYS:

Educators need pathways to advance their career without leaving the classroom so that students can be taught by highly effective teachers who are able to grow their skills and salaries.

Currently, there are very few avenues for Alabama teachers to advance in their career (and salary) beyond those that remove them from the classroom, like becoming a principal or an instructional coach. We need to build pathways for educators to access advanced teacher roles so that our most effective educators can grow their leadership and salaries while remaining in the classroom. We also need to provide incentives for our most effective teachers to work in schools that need them the most.

EVERY STUDENT HAS ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY, TRANSFORMATIVE SCHOOLS

HIGH-QUALITY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS:

Alabama should continue expanding its high-quality charter school sector to provide students with the opportunities they need.

High-quality public charter schools offer an opportunity to reimagine public education. Alabama should continue expanding its high-quality charter school sector through both start-up and conversion models. Alabama’s charter schools need access to equitable funding to continue improving and providing students with the high-quality academic opportunities they need.

EVERY CHILD HAS THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL

MODERNIZING ALABAMA’S SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA:

Alabama needs to provide equitable and adequate funding to schools, especially those serving the most marginalized students.

30-year-old funding model that does not account for differences in students’ needs, like students living in poverty, students with special needs, and students who speak English as a second language. Our schools, especially those serving our most marginalized students in rural and urban high-poverty districts, are not adequately or equitably funded and cannot fully provide the support their students need to succeed. We need new systems for accountability & transparency that provide visibility into how and why districts are spending, as well as new methods for budgeting to ensure that we are spending taxpayer dollars wisely on practices & programs that move the needle for student achievement.

SUMMER & AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS:

The summer and afterschool grant program should be expanded to increase access to community-based programs in reading and STEM.

Students attending summer programs for 20+ days saw significantly better outcomes in math and reading. In addition, students who attended for two summers outperformed those who did not by up to a 20% difference in reading and math. More time in afterschool programs narrowed the math achievement gap by grade 5. We should expand the Summer & After-School Grant Program, a pilot to increase access to high-quality, community-based summer and afterschool programs in reading and STEM.

EVERY STUDENT IS COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY AND HAS ACCESS TO PATHWAYS TO ECONOMIC MOBILITY

HB 109 ALABAMA WORKFORCE BILL:

Alabama must pass the Alabama Works Act to ensure that high school graduates are ready for college and career.

While 91% of students graduated from high school in 2022, only 76% were considered college & career ready, including only 71% of Hispanic students, 68% of low-income students, and 63% of Black students. Through HB 109, the Alabama Workforce bill, we must create a credential registry to ensure programs are preparing students for in-demand jobs, institute a credential review process to ensure quality and alignment with industry demand, and require students to earn one or more college and career readiness indicators before graduation.

EXPAND ADVANCED PLACEMENT ACCESS:

Alabama should continue funding advanced placement so that more students can take courses that prepare them for later success.

Students who take an Advanced Placement course and exam are more likely to graduate from college. Since 2008, Alabama has increased the number of qualifying scores on AP exams from 7,260 to 18,430 per year. The number of AP tests taken by students of color and students in poverty has increased by 135% and 340%, respectively. Continued funding for Advanced Placement will prepare more Alabama students for college, career, and life.

INCREASE COMPUTER SCIENCE FUNDING:

Alabama should continue support for the 2019 Computer Science bill by increasing funding so that every student has a trained teacher in the subject.

Alabama must continue to ensure students have increased access to high-quality computer science courses, both for our children and our economy. With the passage of the 2019 Computer Science bill, Alabama became a national leader in expanding computer science education. Increased funding is needed to expand training for Alabama teachers to teach this important subject matter and meet the goals of this legislation.

A+ Tracked Education Bills

This will be updated as education bills that A+ is tracking are filed in the Legislature.