The Joint Interim Committees reviewed a suite of education contracts Thursday designed to support teacher training, career and technical education and services for English language learners.

Tina Hammis, representing the Alabama Department of Education, told the committee the department brought five RFP contracts tied to the Literacy Act and the Alabama Reading Initiative to fund training for certified academic language therapists (CALTs). "This is the way that we train people in the certified academic language therapist courses and they become CALT trainers," Hammis said. She said the two RFP respondents provide complementary delivery — one online and one in person — and that the contracts run through 2027. Funding for those contracts is state money obtained through the RFP process.

Hammis also described Career and Technical Education support via CTSO coordination, including professional development and industry engagement. Committee members asked whether the CTSO contractor coordinates with industry; Hammis said coordination runs through the department's career‑tech staff and that the contract helps provide training and meetings for teachers and student organizations.

On intervention schools, Hammis presented a contract with LeanFrog Business Solutions to provide consulting services for three districts (Bessemer, Sumter and Dallas) where the department is exercising intervention authority. "We're currently intervened into three different LEAs... Bessemer, Sumter, and Dallas," she said.

Finally, Hammis introduced a Curriculum Associates contract to provide the Elevation web‑based product to support English language learners statewide. She said the product will support research‑based instruction and high‑quality, data‑informed programs for ELL students but did not specify how many languages would be supported and offered to follow up.

What happens next

Committee members posed follow‑up questions about language coverage and potential coordination with workforce development and will rely on staff follow‑up for unanswered specifics. The transcript records discussion but no formal roll call votes on these RFPs during the meeting.