Staff Report
Gov. Robert Bentley doesn’t seem to have any illusions about his proposal to combine Alabama’s General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets into a unified state budget and let education money be spent for other purposes.
Bentley pitched his plan, which would require legislators to pass and voters to approve a constitutional amendment, on Tuesday to a civic group in Birmingham. A day later, he indicated it would be a difficult and possibly futile quest, but noted he likes “to stir things up.”
That he did, based on the roars of anger and calls to battle from legislators of both parties and from Alabama’s educational establishment.
Bentley already had said he’d seek legislative approval to move current money from the ETF to the General Fund that, barring something unexpected, will be ravaged by budget cuts in the next fiscal year.
