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Alabama

Alabama, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2024 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 48% (252,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 51% (259,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

(NOTE: Selecting for age 0-8, state, and race can yield small cell sizes that can make percentages less accurate. Bars marked with S indicate data with extremely small cell sizes, which is not displayed. Bars marked with C should be interpreted with caution. Though the cell sizes are larger, they still fall below a threshold of reliability.)

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations: Growing

In May of 2024, Alabama’s governor signed the fiscal 2025 budgets for the General Fund and Education Trust Fund. The General Fund budget totals $3.36 billion, an increase of $347.6 million, or 11.5 percent, over budgeted fiscal 2024. The Education Trust Fund budget totals $9.33 billion, an increase of $548.6 million, or 6.3 percent, over the enacted fiscal 2024 budget. The General Fund revenue estimate for fiscal 2025 is $3.1 billion, a decrease of 1.3 percent from estimated fiscal 2024 while the Education Trust Fund revenue estimate is $10.2 billion for fiscal 2025, a decrease of 0.7 percent.³

Key Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):⁴

- - Charges: $2,594 per capita
  - General Sales Taxes: $1,368 per capita

Alabama uses all major state and local taxes. Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls. Alabama uses all major state and local taxes.

State Budget Rules:⁴

Alabama uses an annual budget. The legislature must pass a balanced budget and is prohibited from carrying a deficit into the following year. There are no further tax and expenditure limits. Alabama does limit its total authorized debt (but not debt service).

Political Alignment: Aligned Republican

During the 2024 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.⁵

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁶One

- Legislature-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – A constitutional amendment that appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁷

2024 Policy Progress:

Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:⁸

A new child care tax credit (HB 358) was part of the governor’s bill package called “Working for Alabama.” This bill will help incentivize employers to provide a child care or child care benefit for their employees with young children, provides a facility tax credit for licensed providers based on their QRIS rating and the number of children under six receiving subsidies, and provide a grant for licensed non-profit providers. Additionally, this bill will be part of an effort to increase workforce participation by addressing a major challenge for working parents of young children which is child care. This bill will provide credits or grants totaling $52.5 million dollars over the next three years beginning January 1, 2025.

The First Grade Readiness bill (HB 113) requires a child to participate in Kindergarten or demonstrate first grade readiness.

In the last few weeks of the session, advocates were successful in securing funding for the Summer EBT program to begin in 2025. There was great deal of support from the Senate that added it to the Education Trust Fund Budget and convinced the House Members in Conference Committee to leave it in the budget as well. This funding will pay for the administrative costs associated with setting up a call center and sending out the EBT cards to eligible families. It’s expected that approximately 545,000 children will benefit from this food program that provides $40/month in federal funds during June, July, and August. Unfortunately, Alabama was not able to get a funding allocation last year to put the program in place for 2024. Alabama will invest approximately $10 million this first year that draws a $1/$1 federal match.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

Our lead allies in Alabama are Women’s Foundation of Alabama and VOICES for Alabama’s Children. Women’s Foundation of Alabama leverages philanthropy, research, and advocacy to elevate women, focusing on issues such as child care, infant mortality, and poverty and pay equity. VOICES for Alabama’s Children is a statewide nonpartisan organization that works to ensure the well-being of Alabama’s children through research, public awareness, and advocacy.

Together, they are working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Child Care

Child Care Workforce

Preschool and Pre-K

Child and
Maternal Health

Child Welfare

Early Intervention (0-3)

Infant and Child Health

Family
Supports

Early Childhood Infrastructure

Early Childhood Finance and Cost Modeling

Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.

Alabama Child Care Roadmap: Alabama allies are also working together to pursue the recommendations in a joint child care roadmap. The roadmap, released in 2024, outlines six areas in which short and long-term recommendations are made. Developed through a collaborative project led by Alabama Partnership for Children, Alabama School Readiness Alliance, and VOICES for Alabama’s Children, Child Care in Alabama: A Roadmap to Support Alabama’s Parents, Children, Employers and Economy was created with data received from focus groups, work groups, and over 20 years of child care studies. Read the full roadmap here.

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

Alabama Advocates Tap Alliance Network for Big Child Care Tax Credit Win

August 21, 2024

Early Childhood advocates in Alabama are celebrating the creation of a new child care tax credit. As part of a “Working for Alabama” bill package, House Bill 358 provides opportunities for employers, for-profit child care providers, and nonprofit child care providers to apply for funds. The Alabama legislature unanimously passed the bill and the governor signed it into law in May, 2024.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.

⁵National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.

⁶Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.

⁷Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.