Across the Board March 2025: Key Takeaways from the ALBOE Board Meeting

Recapping important State Board of Education policy decisions for you

Here are our key takeaways from the March 13th State Board of Education meeting – and what they mean for Alabama’s students. All board members were present. Click here to see the agenda for the full meeting and work session.

Congratulations to Walter B. Gonoulin Jr. of Jefferson County Schools who was recently honored as the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year. The Board will be recognizing Gonsoulin during their next meeting on April 10.

Top 5 Takeaways

1. Dr. Mackey’s Update on the U.S. Department of Education

During the work session, Dr. Mackey gave an update on the changes to the federal Department of Education (ED) and how these changes might affect Alabama. According to Dr. Mackey, federal funds support about 10% of Alabama’s K-12 education budget, and mainly flows to special education students through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and to Title I schools through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Districts are given an amount of money they can spend based on their region’s census data and school counts. They spend the money, and then request reimbursement from the Alabama State Board of Education, which requests reimbursement from the federal government. As of Thursday, March 13th, these funds have continued to flow. The only programs that have been affected in schools thus far are the Farm to School nutrition program and some research groups that were previously funded by federal grants. The Farm to School program is not to be confused with the National School Lunch Program that provides free and reduced-price meals to students, which is still funded through the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Mackey shared that while we aren’t sure what will happen with ESSA and IDEA, Alabama will continue to provide necessary funding to schools.

To learn more about changes at the U.S. Department of Education, read here about this week’s staffing cuts and read here about the potential impact of shutting down the department.

2. Revised Regulations for Educator Preparation Programs Approved

During the board meeting, the board voted unanimously to repeal and replace the existing Educator Preparation chapter (Chapter 290-3-3), which outlines the standards and requirements for educator preparation programs. During a public hearing, three members of the public spoke in favor of the revisions, and three members suggested changes to the document including more field training for mathematics educators, more standards for special education educators, and increasing the requirements for school psychologists.

These changes are the result of a long process in which the ALSDE had worked alongside educator prep programs to modernize the administrative code that regulates Alabama’s educator prep programs in response to recent legislative changes. The chapter replaces the Continuous Improvement in Educator Preparation (CIEP) process with a new process titled the Alabama Program Improvement for Educators (AL-PIE). Additionally, the new code aligns teacher preparation with the Numeracy Act. More information can be found in Across the Board posts from January and February 2025. To read through the approved code, click here.

3. State Intervention for the Dallas County Schools

During the board meeting, the board voted unanimously to intervene in Dallas County Schools. Dr. Mackey shared that in their meeting last week, the Dallas County School Board voted unanimously to accept help from the state. Five of Dallas County’s 11 schools are on the state’s “priority list,” which means that they earned either a D or F on the 2024 State Report Card. Dr. Mackey said that the reason for the intervention focused mainly on the district’s budget and financial standing and that Daniel Boyd will serve as the Chief Administrator of the intervention starting immediately. Sumter County and Bessemer City Schools are also currently under state intervention.

4. Updating the Praxis Assessment for Teacher Certification

During the work session, the board discussed adjusting the Praxis assessment cut scores for teacher certification with the national standards outlined by the Education Testing Service (ETS). Teachers must achieve this cut score to receive their certification. The Social Studies Content Knowledge, Technology Education, and Family and Consumer Science Praxis exams were recently updated by the ETS. The modification of the cut scores follows these changes in the Praxis exam.

In addition, the board discussed adding three World Language Praxis tests to the state’s exam package in order to widen the options for teacher certification subjects. With Alabama’s new teacher educator preparation programs, people who would like to be teachers may seek to teach Chinese, Russian, or Japanese. If these teachers would like to be certified, then Alabama will have to adopt the three additional Praxis exams in addition to the programs we currently have.

5. 2025-2026 Textbook Committee Recommendations for Arts and Social Studies

During the work session, Dr. Mackey shared the process for appointing textbook committees and approving textbook lists with the board. Last year, during the 2024-2025 school year, the board approved new courses of study standards for the Arts and Social Studies. Now, the board and the governor must recommend appointees for a textbook committee to review and recommend textbooks aligned to those new standards. The recommendations will need to be approved by the Senate. Once the textbook committees are appointed and review the textbooks, they will send their textbook recommendations back to the board, where the board will be able to review the recommendations. The list of textbooks being reviewed by the committee is confidential until the board approves the recommendations.

The next Board meeting will be on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 10 am in the Gordon Persons Building Auditorium. The work session will follow at 11 am.

The Alabama State Board of Education usually meets on the second Thursday of each month, with the exception of the July meeting, to discuss important policies, procedures, and changes for Alabama’s K-12 public schools. The Board takes official action during their monthly meeting and then follows up with a Work Session to get updates and discuss future action that will be voted on at the next board meeting. You can watch them live and see old meetings here.

Contact Your Board Member:

Have feedback on any of the above items – or anything else? Contact your state school board member using the resources below:

-To contact your State Board of Education Member, click here.

-To find out which district you live and/or teach in, click here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter your address in the “Polling Place Search” box. Once entered, it will take you to a page that shows your polling place and the districts you live in.

-To view a map of the state school board districts, click here.