MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As the Alabama Legislature enters the final stretch of the 2026 regular session, lawmakers are preparing to take up the two bills they are constitutionally required to pass each year: the State General Fund budget and the Education Trust Fund budget.
The two spending plans fund Alabama government and public education and must be approved before the session adjourns.
Each year the budgets begin in opposing chambers, rotating between the House and Senate. In 2026, the Education Trust Fund budget will start in the House while the State General Fund budget will originate in the Senate.
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, who chairs the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee, told lawmakers this week that the House version of the education budget could reach the Senate as early as the first week of April.
“It looks like we will most likely take up the budget the week we come back in April, the first week in April, because there is just not a lot of time,” Orr said.
The House version of the education spending plan is being led by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Committee.
Orr said the two chambers have been working together on the proposal but urged senators to carefully review the House plan once it arrives in the Senate.
“My ask is get the House version, review it, look at it, not just the budget but the supplemental appropriation and the A and T appropriation,” Orr said. “Look at all of it. Then if you want to come see me, let us talk. But do not wait until the week of passage here in the Senate when we have it scheduled to hit committee and the floor. That is a little too late to start making decisions.”
The Education Trust Fund is Alabama’s largest budget. The current education spending plan provides nearly $10 billion in funding for schools and other education programs across the state, about a 6% increase over the previous year.
The state’s General Fund budget totals about $3.7 billion, a roughly 10% increase — or about $347 million — over the previous budget.
The General Fund budget begins in the Senate this year, where Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, has been working on the chamber’s spending proposal.
Albritton said he is nearly ready to present the budget to lawmakers once he receives approval from Senate leadership.
“I’m waiting for the go ahead thumbs up from leadership to proceed,” Albritton said. “I think we have done as best we could with where we are.”
Albritton said the process has been more challenging this year after several years when Alabama saw unusually strong revenues tied in part to federal COVID-19 relief funds and interest earnings from those dollars.
“This has not been an easy year, but I think we’ve done as well as we can,” Albritton said. “It was a little more trying, a little more constraints, and a couple of surprises that came along.”
Albritton said lawmakers could receive copies of the Senate’s proposed General Fund budget as early as next week.
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