The Alabama State Board of Education voted unanimously on June 12 to adopt an emergency administrative rule, Alabama Administrative Code rule 290-3-1-.05, to implement paid parental leave for public education employees, and announced a 35-day public comment period on a proposed permanent rule.

State education official Doctor Mackey told the board the action is intended to ensure state education employees can take parental leave beginning July 1. "The emergency rule becomes effective immediately with this vote that the board just took, so that July 1, our employees, public education employees across the state can take that paid parental leave," Doctor Mackey said.

Doctor Mackey said the legislature passed the measure and the governor signed it into law, and the emergency rule was adopted to make leave available without delay. He said the board spent time discussing the rule in a work session last month and that lawyers and board members had followed up to resolve questions. "Public, anybody wants to comment, we will open a 35 day public comment period on the public rule," he said, adding that slight adjustments to the permanent rule might be made based on comments.

The board moved and seconded the emergency rule and then voted by raised hands; the clerk announced a unanimous vote. The board also voted unanimously to announce its intent to adopt the same provision as a permanent rule and to open the 35-day comment period. The meeting transcript does not specify details of the leave (for example: number of weeks, pay rate, eligibility criteria, or which employee categories are covered). Those specifics were not discussed in the recorded proceedings.

The emergency rule citation was read as "290-3-1-.05 pertaining to paid parental leave." Board members were credited in the record with prior work in a recent work session to prepare the rule. Doctor Mackey invited public comments to inform the permanent rule and said legal staff would continue to work with board members on any outstanding questions.

The board recessed to a work session after the meeting; statewide data releases and additional work-session items, including graduation-rate and college-career-readiness figures, were scheduled for discussion later in the day.

Next steps: the emergency rule was effective immediately; the permanent rule will proceed through the announced 35-day public comment period, after which the board may modify the proposed permanent rule before final adoption. Details of the leave itself were not specified during the meeting.