Jul. 30—Alabama schools will receive approximately $52 million in federal funding for education-related programs this week, just as school starts, after the money was frozen for review for nearly a month. This money amounts to nearly $3 million locally.
“I think we’re all very excited about the funds being released,” said Lawrence County Schools Superintendent Jon Bret Smith. “… The intentions of these funds are to help those students who are disadvantaged. Within our district, we make sure that all children receive a high-quality education. Without these funds, attaining that goal would be very difficult.”
The funding supports teacher positions and professional development (Title II-A), summer and after-school programs (Title IV-B), English language learners (Title III-A), and migrant students (Title I-C) in Alabama.
Lawrence County Schools will receive approximately $300,000, which Smith said is particularly helpful as a rural district.
Last week, approximately $21 million was released for after-school and summer programs, like the Boys and Girls Club. The approved funds were announced days after 10 Republican senators, including Katie Britt of Alabama, sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget encouraging their total release.
The rest of the funding will come just in time for the start of school; however, many local schools began examining alternate budget plans weeks ago. Most area schools begin classes again next week.
Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey informed school districts that the money would be released in an email late Sunday morning.
“When I read it, it was like, ‘OK, now we can do things differently with the funds that we were going to use to try to recuperate what we were losing,’ so moving things around, using Title I to serve more schools to make up for the teachers that we had paid for with Title II,” said Athens City Schools Supervisor of Federal Programs and Learning Support Jennifer Sallee. “Now it frees us up to be able to use those funds in a different way.”
Sallee said the specific allocation amounts per school district have not yet been shared, but Athens City Schools expects to receive a similar amount to the previous school year. Information from the State Department of Education shows that the district expected over $200,000 in funding through this avenue.
Now that the district will receive the money, Sallee said the private schools Athens City Schools serves will especially benefit. Private schools tend to qualify for fewer federal grant programs than public schools. While the public schools could reallocate other money, such as Title I, to put toward other areas, the private schools would have had fewer options, according to Sallee.
Bruman Group, a law firm specializing in federal grants, told schools in April that they should be concerned for the 2026 — 27 school year, according to Sallee.
“I think that losing these funds temporarily helped us to have a plan in place for how we would deal with it if that were to be the case in the future,” Sallee said. “It was a useful time for us to be able to prepare for that eventuality. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, but if it does, then we’ve gone through different scenarios that we could use to make the best out of what we do have.”
Smith, who remained optimistic while money was frozen, feels blessed that Lawrence County Schools will receive the total amount of Title funding, and he hopes it will continue to be provided in the future.
“I believe that we’re all concerned that federal funds will either be reduced or changed in the near future,” Smith said. “I continue to hope that those that need federal funds the most will have access to them.”
— GraciAnn.Goodin@DecaturDaily.com or 256-340-2437