Enacted Budget – Fiscal Year 2024
On June 1, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the fiscal 2024 budgets for the General Fund and Education Trust Fund. The General Fund budget totals $3.01 billion, an increase of $274.8 million, or 10.03 percent, over fiscal 2023 appropriations (as reported in the governor’s recommended budget). The Education Trust Fund budget totals $8.8 billion, an increase of $536.5 million, or 6.5 percent, over fiscal 2023. Compared to the fiscal 2023 budget, the Education Trust Fund includes increases for workforce development at the Department of Commerce ($12.7 million), the community college system ($35.5 million), Office of School Readiness in the Department of Early Childhood Education ($7.8 million), K-12 Foundation Program ($226.3 million), the Jobs Child Care and After School Child Care Program and Family and Children Services Program ($30.1 million), and the Department of Mental Health ($9.03 million). The budgets include a two percent pay raise for state employees, along with K-12 and community college teachers; the creation of a new $500 million reserve fund in case of an economic downturn; and rebates of $150 for single filers and $300 for married filers. A separate enacted bill would reduce the existing tax on food from 4 percent to 3 percent starting September 1 with an additional 1 percent decrease the following year if tax collections to the Education Trust Fund increase at least 3.5 percent.