State superintendent talks education budget, teacher pay raises [Video]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Alabama teachers and school staff are one step closer to getting a raise.

The state Senate passed a record education trust fund budget, which is now awaiting House action. It includes a 2% raise for education employees.

“This is the fourth raise in a row, and certainly I know that all of us would like to pay teachers lots more than we do, but keeping up annual raises helps our teachers stay ahead of inflation,” said State Superintendent Eric Mackey.

Right now, the budget totals over $9 billion, funding pre-K, K-12 schools and higher education.

The state superintendent said Alabama is finally bouncing back from the Great Recession.

“For many years, we had zeroed out textbooks. Teachers didn’t get any money to spend in their classroom. Raises, we went for years and years without raises,” Mackey said.

The Senate did make some changes to the budget.

One change includes $10 million in state funding to …