Common Core unlikely to be debated in 2014 legislative session

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Local members of the Alabama Delegation said they think budgeting will be a primary issue debated during the 2014 Legislative Session, predicting issues with the cost of education, Medicaid, corrections and transportation would come to the table.

In January, Republican state delegates representing Shelby County convened for the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce’s 2014 Legislative Preview. The forum, led by Sen. Cam Ward, provided residents and business owners from the area an opportunity to address their representatives before they returned to Montgomery on Jan. 14.

Ward began the forum by lowering expectations for this year’s session, citing election years in the past had seen fewer bills come before the delegation. However, as state revenues are increasing more slowly than projected expenditures, maintaining a balanced budget for Alabama is the primary challenge, he said.

“Unlike Washington, D.C., we can’t print new money,” Ward said. “We can only spend what we have.”

Attending were Rep. Jim Carns, Rep. Jim McClendon, Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, Rep. April Weaver, Rep. Kurt Wallace, Sen. J.T. “Jabo” Waggoner and Ward. Absent were Rep. Mike Hill and Sen. Slade Blackwell.

Education

For fiscal year 2014, the executive budget posted on alabama.gov reports that the state is projecting $5.8 billion in its Education Trust Fund. Ward said legislators are continually looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary spending, as that figure is approximately four times the size of Alabama’s General Fund.

During the forum, they citied ways each had attempted to provide efficiencies in education. McClendon said he introduced a bill that would provide digital devices in lieu of textbooks, which could potentially save the state $15 million to $20 million per year. Carnes indicated his preference was for more flexibility for local school administrations to design how money was spent.

These attempts are coming at a time when the federal government’s Common Core State Standards Initiative is being heavily debated in the state.

According to corestandards.org, Common Core establishes a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics. States voluntarily adopt these standards, which the site reports are “designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit bearing entry courses in two or four year college programs or enter the workforce.”

During the meeting, legislators present with the exception of Waggoner said they opposed use of Common Core in Alabama schools.

“There are numerous complications,” said McClurkin, who co-sponsored a bill to repeal Common Core in local schools. “It involves a cross section of standards that might not apply to our area.”

Ward, who also said he opposed the measure, indicated he did not believe legislators would discuss Common Core during the 2014 session. He said, however, it would be “debated at length” in 2015.

Transportation

The Alabama Department of Transportation’s budget in 2014 is $200 million higher than it was the previous year, but residents were told not to expect substantial infrastructure improvements. ALDOT’s total budget is approximately $1.5 billion, with $500 million of that coming from the State Road and Bridge Tax and $720 million from the federal government.

Ward said stymied growth in the Road and Bridge Tax was a result of the increasing market for energy efficient cars. When the tax was designed, it assumed more roads would mean more drivers and therefore more taxes. With fuel consumption decreasing — due to energy efficiency, not the number of drivers — the fund is no longer keeping up with demand.

In addition, delegates said 88 percent of the state’s $1.7 billion General Fund budget is earmarked, leaving only 12 percent available for appropriation among districts.

“A lot of existing legislators ran on the phrase, ‘No new taxes,’ McClendon said. “So, what do we do when we need more money?”

Corrections

Legislators said the need for an immediate remedy also applies to the State Department of Corrections, which is budgeted to consume $473 million of the General Fund in 2014.

“Our prisons are a disaster,” Ward said, indicating that Alabama is currently at 190 percent capacity in its corrections facilities — the worst in the U.S.

Waggoner added that each of Alabama’s approximately 30,000 inmates costs $16 per day to house, which is twice as much as the state spends on educating a child in kindergarten through 12th grade.

“When it comes to the prison problem, it’s going to get solved,” Ward said implying that if the legislature couldn’t find a solution, he expected the judicial system to step in.

Medicaid

For 2014, the state has budgeted $5.8 billion for Medicare coverage, with $3.9 billion coming from Federal Funds. Part of the Affordable Care Act involves a possible expansion of the system to provide coverage for the “working poor,” a classification of the uninsured whose annual wages exclude them from coverage.

McClendon said controversy over the expansion involves the future rather than the present.

“The federal government gave us an incentive. They’d pay first two years, and all we have to do is cover 10 percent after that,” he said. “Well, that sounds like a bargain.”

McClendon said the state is having difficulty covering its current obligations to Medicare, and the projected 10 percent match that would be required in two years would be approximately $230 million.

“It’s discussed every day here in Alabama,” he said. “There’s not going to be an expansion until we get our current costs under control.”