Across the Board August: Key Takeaways from SBOE Meeting

Recapping important State Board of Education policy decisions for you

Here are our key takeaways from the August 13-14 State Board of Education biannual board retreat and work session. All board members were present. Click here to see the agenda for the full meeting and work session, and click here to watch the recording.

The board retreat was hosted at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE) in Huntsville, Alabama. House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels serves on the board of ASCTE, and welcomed the state board members to the campus. Board members toured the school and heard a presentation on the Cyber Range, which is a statewide cybersecurity learning hub. On Friday, board members toured the U.S. Space and Rocket Center to conclude the retreat.

Top 3 Takeaways

1. WorkKeys Withdrawn from Alabama’s Federal Waiver Request

During the afternoon work session, Dr. Mackey shared an update on Alabama’s Ed-Flex waiver application. Mackey shared that the Workkeys section of the Ed-Flex waiver would be withdrawn from the proposal, because the U.S. Department of Education (USED) says it does not have the authority to approve the ALSDE’s request to use Workkeys for the statewide academic assessment indicator. Any change to the indicator would require an ESSA Waiver, which is a different process than Ed-Flex. Currently, Alabama uses the ACT to measure academic growth and achievement in high school.

This is good news for Alabama students, and we thank Dr. Mackey for removing WorkKeys from the application. The WorkKeys is far less rigorous than the ACT, and the math skills that WorkKeys assesses are directly aligned with Alabama’s elementary and middle school standards, not high school level work. While A+ Education Partnership supports the seven sections of the waiver that request funding and other flexibility, we oppose including WorkKeys in the state’s measurement of academic achievement because it would lower the bar significantly for students. For more information, check out our overview of the ALSDE’s request. 

While at this time WorkKeys is being removed from the Ed-Flex waiver request, Mackey said that if Alabama did want to pursue both WorkKeys and ACT as student academic achievement indicators in the future, all students would have to take both exams. This would also impact the ALSDE’s budget. There is a process for possibly gaining USED approval (an ESSA Waiver), but it would require that the entire process start over with a new draft and public comment period. He said that he would wait until after the new administration and legislature comes in, and reassess after the first year.

Mackey also shared that the other items requested, pertaining to funding and flexibility, will continue to be negotiated and edited. He expects those to go into effect by the end of the year. A summary of those items can be found on the initial public comment notice. 

The recording of the discussion is here, at 4h:45m. 

2. FY28 Education Budget Request Discussion

During the afternoon work session, Dr. Mackey shared the FY28 budget request draft with the board. At the top of this discussion, he shared that this year Alabama will likely see a much smaller Supplemental Budget and Advancement and Technology Fund allocation than in previous years. He anticipates that they will each be $200-300 million for FY28.

The board discussed the ALSDE’s budget request line-by-line. They will discuss the budget more in September, and officially adopt it in October. The budget is due to the Governor’s office by November 1. While this is an election year, the process for departments remains the same. Governor Ivey’s finance team will create a “skeleton budget” using the departmental requests, and share it with the incoming governor when he takes office. The incoming governor will then have until the second Tuesday in February to finalize his budget, and submit it to the legislature. Mackey shared that with the turnover in the Governor’s office and the legislature and the tighter budget he is anticipating, it is important for the ALSDE’s budget request to mirror the board’s priorities. 

Some line items to highlight:

• RAISE Act – $58 million, level funded from the ETF (additional funds allocated annually from the RAISE Fund)
• Advanced Placement – $14.5 million, increase of $1 million over last year
• Alabama Numeracy Act – $116.5 million, increase of $2.5 million 
• Alabama Reading Initiative (Alabama Literacy Act) – $112.85 million, level funded
• Struggling Readers Beyond Grade 3 – $45 million, compared to $10 million in the Supplemental last year
• Alabama Summer and Afterschool Program – $47.29 million, increase of $30 million to shift all funding from the Supplemental to the ETF
• English Learners – $4 million, level funded
• High Needs Special Education Grant – $17.4 million, increase of $3.4
• Student Assessment – $21 million, increase of $600,000
• Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act – $40.65 million, increase of $7.4 million

These funding levels are from a draft of the budget request, and are not finalized. The ALSDE will likely edit these numbers in response to the board’s priorities, and we will know more in September.

In addition to the specific budget request, the board discussed the rising cost of PEEHIP as a significant factor in the upcoming budgets.PEEHIP is how Alabama funds healthcare for teachers. Mackey shared that he anticipates that the cost of PEEHIP will continue to increase rapidly, and that the healthcare cost for teachers may need to increase to compensate, through either increased copays or premiums.

3. Updates on State Intervention Schools

During the work session, the board shared the new ACAP data from the 2025-2026 school year. This year, Alabama saw gains in many grade’s assessments scores across multiple subjects. Dr. Mackey shared that he is happy with the increases, and attributed them to the Alabama Reading Initiative, the Alabama Literacy Act, the Alabama Numeracy Act, and the RAISE Act. Dr. Mackey said that “we saw this growth in level four, the only real difference that I can attribute that to is the beginning of the investment of those RAISE Act funds.”

Each year, students in grades 2-8 take the ACAP summative assessment to measure their progress and inform the state report card. Dr. Mackey and Mrs. Maggie Hicks, student assessment coordinator, shared the preliminary state-level ACAP scores and their comparisons to last year.

Students made large gains in science in particular. This year was the first year that the new Science Course of Study was fully implemented and assessed. Last year this exam was optional, while this year it was mandatory, and had a new cut score. Alabama students showed large gains in science scores, and Dr. Mackey shared that he was positively surprised by these results. 

English Learners are assessed by the ACCESS exam rather than the ACAP while they receive ELL services. While Alabama’s ELL population is increasing, the number of students succeeding on the ACCESS exam and exiting EL services has also increased. In 2026, 6.45% of the 49,680 students identified as EL from across the state tested out, and will take the ACAP next year. This is an increase from 4.6% in 2024 and 5.29% in 2025.

While there are gains in many areas, there is still significant growth needed for Alabama students. 50-75% of students are still below proficient in math, and 30-45% are still below proficient in English. District level data will be available soon, and those scores will be included in the annual state report card.

The next Board meeting will be on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at 10 am at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama. The work session will be held at the same location at 11 a.m. or immediately following the State Board Meeting.

The August Board Retreat will be on Friday August 14, 2026, beginning at 9am at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama.

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.