MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Community College System is considering a nearly $700 million budget request for fiscal year 2026, an 18% increase over its current appropriations.
The request, which must be approved by Gov. Kay Ivey and considered by legislators, would be a $107 million increase over its current budget to around $694 million.
Chancellor Jimmy Baker said after the work session of the ACCS’ Board of Trustees on Wednesday that they have a lot of significant projects and upgrades to come.
Among other items, the system is seeking a $10 million increase (25%) for dual enrollment programs, which allow high school students to take college courses for credit.
“It’s a growing program,” he said. Sara Calhoun, the chief financial officer for ACCS, who presented the budget, said about 91% of students participating in a dual enrollment course complete the class.
Baker said the system is “working with the legislative leadership” to make salaries more competitive, saying that many teachers can make more money at a high school than at a community college.
While K-12 and community college teachers receive the same base level of pay from the state, K-12 teachers can receive additional salary from local school systems or bonuses for teaching subjects like math and science.
Calhoun said they would request funding to support a “significant raise” for faculty and staff, as well as an increase inclusive in the request to help offset inflationary increases.
Calhoun said they are also requesting a $6.6 million increase for Ingram State Community College. The budget worksheet from the work session shows a roughly $6.7 million (58%) increase for prison education operations and maintenance.
“It’s been several years since Ingram has received an (operations and management) increase,” she said. “With the advancement of mega prisons coming our way and the overall state support that Ingram is providing to our incarcerated students, we feel that this ask is very vital to the continuation of growth of Ingram’s programs.”
ACCS is also seeking an additional $10 million increase (67%) for the ACCS Innovation Center, which provides specialized training for employees, which would bring it to $25 million.
“They’ve done a yeoman’s task since they were implemented three years ago, and they’re continuing to grow and make major impacts across the state with business and industry and our short term credentialing and our high skill, high wage industries,” she said. “So, we’re very proud of that program and would like to see continued support for that.”
Ivey will present her budget proposals to the Alabama Legislature at the start of the 2025 legislative session in February. Legislators will have the final word on how much each state agency gets.
This article originally appeared on Alabama Reflector, an independent, nonprofit news outlet. It appears on FOX54.com under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
