MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Senate passed its long-stalled education budget Tuesday, closing out two days of opposition from a lawmaker who argued for hours that the bill is an unacceptable continuation of years of state funding cuts in K-12 schools.
Before lawmakers voted 29-2 to advance the measure, Sen. Paul Bussman pulled a dry-erase board into the chamber and did calculations showing that the last five years of budgets have slashed nearly $43 million from state grade schools.
Bussman made his argument to a chamber of mostly empty chairs as senators filtered in and out of the room. The lawmakers had heard hours of similar criticism from the Cullman Republican two weeks ago on the final day before their spring recess.
“Until we address the issues we have right now, our children are at a disadvantage,” Bussman said. “The lack of money will hurt a lot of things.”
Moments before the vote was called, lawmakers rushed back into the Senate to cast their yeas and nays. The only other legislator to vote against the measure was Sen. Paul Sanford, a Huntsville Republican.
Sen. Arthur Orr, a Decatur Republican who sponsored the bill, said the $6.4 billion budget for schools isn’t much of a departure from previous years and that it reflects the evolving needs of Alabama’s education system. He let Bussman voice his distaste for the bill, though he did refer to the prolonged resistance as a “soliloquy.”
The education budget will now move to the House for a vote.
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