Gov. Bob Riley this week released $100 million from Alabama’s rainy-day fund for education to help maintain funding at its current level, leaving $116 million in the fund for future use.
In Alabama, the process of cutting state budgets due to lower-than-expected revenues is known as proration.
“The world-wide recession is continuing and we need to release this $100 million right now to maintain proration at its current level,” Riley said in a statement.
In December 2008, the governor ordered the first cuts in the education budget because revenue fell short of expectations. To lessen the impact of cuts at the time, he released about half of the rainy-day fund, or $221 million, and saved the remainder to be dispersed later.
