State Superintendent Eric Mackey told lawmakers during a joint legislative budget hearing that Alabama has made gains in early literacy but faces rising costs to sustain progress as academic standards increase and student needs grow.
Mackey said the percentage of Alabama third graders reading on grade level has increased from about 75 percent after passage of the Literacy Act to 88.4 percent this year. The state raised the third-grade reading cut score required for fourth-grade promotion without an intervention plan from 435 to 444 last year. The score will remain at 444 this year, then increase to 454 in two years.
Mackey said roughly 5 percent of Alabama schools with third-grade reading scores, fewer than 20 out of about 250 schools statewide, achieved 100 percent reading proficiency among third graders. He emphasized that those schools represent a wide range of communities, including both affluent areas and high-poverty rural districts.
While early-grade reading outcomes have improved, Mackey said the department is increasingly focused on students who continue to struggle after third grade. The largest funding discussion during the hearing centered on support for struggling readers beyond grade three, a program that has expanded rapidly through supplemental appropriations.
The program was initially funded at $5 million and later increased to $17 million in a prior supplemental budget. Under the governor’s current proposal, $45 million would be provided through a supplemental appropriation for the upcoming fiscal year.
Mackey said the department estimates it would cost between $52 million and $55 million to fully implement the program statewide. The proposed increase would expand participation and allow schools across the state to address literacy gaps among older students.
Mackey said the program serves three groups of students: those promoted to fourth grade under good-cause exemptions who must continue receiving reading services, students who technically met the minimum cut score but still struggle with literacy and older students who can read basic text but struggle with complex, content-specific material in subjects such as science and mathematics.
He said many students experience difficulty as academic reading shifts from short narrative passages to longer, technical texts that require vocabulary knowledge and background understanding. Addressing that challenge requires training teachers in all subject areas to see themselves as reading instructors, not just content specialists.
Another area of growth is ACCESS distance learning, for which the department is requesting an increase of approximately $3 million. ACCESS allows students to take individual online courses rather than enrolling in full-time virtual schools. Mackey said demand for those courses has grown steadily since the pandemic, particularly after private and homeschool students were allowed to enroll at no cost beginning in 2020.
The ACCESS program operates through three regional centers located in Madison, Tuscaloosa and Troy University. Mackey said enrollment previously reached capacity at those centers, resulting in hundreds of students being unable to enroll until lawmakers approved additional funding. The current request is intended to prevent capacity issues as demand continues to rise.
Funding for advanced placement remains level under the governor’s proposal, while numeracy initiatives continue to expand. Mackey said the state is in the process of fully implementing its math coaching model, with completion expected in fiscal year 2028. Once fully implemented, 850 numeracy coaches will be deployed statewide to support instruction aligned with the Numeracy Act.
Mental health services remain level-funded, with state support providing at least one mental health coordinator per school district. Mackey noted that larger districts often supplement state funding with local resources to support additional coordinators, but the state’s focus has been on ensuring coverage across all systems.
The hearing also included a discussion of certified behavior analysts who work with students with autism. Mackey said funding for those positions has increased slightly over time, intending to provide at least one specialist per district, though demand continues to outpace available resources.
Mackey closed by thanking lawmakers for recent pay raises and health insurance support for educators, noting that personnel costs account for roughly 85 percent of the education budget. He said the department’s budget priorities are focused on sustaining gains in reading while maintaining momentum in math and science as academic expectations rise.
