Alabama Schools

ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
50 N. RIPLEY ST ROOM 5327
MONTGOMERY, AL 36104
(334) 242-9700

After Hurricane Katrina, Alabama's schools suffered greatly. Twenty two counties were severely effected by Katrina and on December 30, 2005, President Bush authorized funds to reinstate school districts-including non-public schools-to get these schools back up and running. However, Alabama's students seem to have looked adversity in the face and laughed. Alabama's SAT scores for the 2005-06 testing season were well above the U.S. average-by at least 39 points in both math and verbal. Also, even in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, twice as many schools made the No Child Left Behind requirements than the 2004-05 year.

Part of these impressive scores for SAT and NCLB may be attributed to Alabama's wonderful, and well-educated teachers. More than half of Alabama's 47,000 teachers-25,023-have a Master's degree or higher. Alabama's 2005-06 educational budget was over $3 billion on K-12 education, not including the federal money for rebuilding the school system in 22 counties. The most recent per student spending is from the 2003-04 school year, where the state spent more than $6,000 per student. Because of the lower per-student spending, Alabama is ranked 43 out of 50 in Morgan Quinto's "2005-06 Education State Rankings", or "Smartest State" rankings-up one place from last year. For more information on Alabama's schools, visit http://www.alsde.edu