House Bill 1057 Act 49
The 84th legislature in a Special Session on Education Reform passed Act 49 which includes priorities for funding for three and four year olds up to 200% of the FPL. Districts that have 75% of their children scoring below proficient in LIteracy and Math on the State Benchmark exams and those children in schools that have been designated an school improvement status will be top priority. Any willing provider may apply for funding as long as they meet the State Quality Approval and ABC Standards. This includes a P-4 certified teacher as lead teacher and CDA certified aide among other things.
Act 49 provides the $40 million appropriation for early care and education. The money to fund education reform will come from the following bills:
HB 1030 (a 7/8 percentage point increase in the sales tax, extending the sales tax to selected services, tax on vending machine operators)
$82 million collected during the rest of the fiscal 2004 due to an emergency clause, $364 million during fiscal 2005
SB 80 (increase of corporate francise tax) $6 million during fiscal 2005
$25 million - growth in property tax collection from increased assessments
*Source: Bureau of Legislative Research