SB343 Alabama 2025 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Gerald H. AllenSenator

Republican

Session

2025 Regular Session

Title

Public Education, to require the State Department of Education for public K-12 schools, the Alabama Commission on Higher Education for public four-year institutions of higher education, and the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Community College System for public two-year institutions of higher education to summarize and report break/fix rates on school technology devices to Legislature

Summary

SB343 would require public K-12 schools and public colleges in Alabama to summarize and report break/fix rates and repair spending for school technology devices to the Legislature each year.

What This Bill Does

The bill defines break/fix rate and what counts as a school technology device. It requires annual reporting by August 15 from K-12 schools to the State Department of Education, and from public four-year and two-year higher education institutions to their respective boards, detailing each sector’s break/fix rate and total funds spent on repairs or replacements. It also allows the relevant boards to adopt rules evaluating long-term ownership costs, flexibility for innovation, and resale/salvage value when acquiring technology. Finally, the State Department of Education, ACHE, and the ACCS Board of Trustees would must report to the Legislature’s education and appropriations chairs on the first day of each regular session, and the measure would take effect October 1, 2025.

Who It Affects

• Public K-12 schools in Alabama, which would need to measure and report their annual break/fix rate and the funds spent to repair or replace school technology devices to the State Department of Education by August 15 each year.
• Public postsecondary institutions (both four-year colleges and two-year community colleges), which would need to measure and report their annual break/fix rate and repair/replacement spending to their respective governing bodies (ACHE for four-year institutions and the ACCS Board of Trustees for two-year institutions) by August 15 each year.

Key Provisions

• Defines break/fix rate as the percentage of technology devices in operation that have malfunctioned or required repair before the end of their life cycle, not covered by insurance, divided by the total number of devices in operation.
• Defines school technology device as any electronic or computerized equipment used for educational purposes (e.g., computers, tablets, interactive whiteboards) in public K-12 or higher education settings.
• Requires annual reporting by August 15 from each K-12 local education agency to the State Department of Education, including the previous year's break/fix rate and total funds spent to repair or replace devices.
• Allows the State Board of Education to adopt rules requiring public K-12 schools to evaluate long-term ownership costs, flexibility for innovation, and anticipated resale/salvage value when acquiring technology.
• Requires the State Department of Education to report to the Senate Finance and Taxation Education and House Ways and Means Education committees annually, on the first day of each regular session, the break/fix rate across all public K-12 schools.
• For higher education, requires each public four-year institution to report to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education by August 15, including the break/fix rate and funds spent for the previous year.
• Allows ACHE to adopt rules to evaluate long-term ownership costs, flexibility for innovation, and resale/salvage value for technology acquisitions at four-year institutions.
• Requires ACHE to report to the Senate Finance and Taxation Education and House Ways and Means Education committees annually, on the first day of each regular session, the break/fix rate across all public four-year institutions.
• Requires annual reporting by August 15 from each public two-year institution to the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Community College System, including the break/fix rate and funds spent for the previous year.
• Allows the ACCS Board of Trustees to adopt rules to evaluate long-term ownership costs, flexibility for innovation, and resale/salvage value for technology acquisitions at two-year institutions.
• Requires ACCS to report to the Senate Finance and Taxation Education and House Ways and Means Education committees annually, on the first day of each regular session, the break/fix rate across all public two-year institutions.
• The act becomes effective October 1, 2025.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 22, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Education