Alabama has approved $27 million in education-capital awards, directing $22 million to Auburn University and $5 million to the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, according to the governor’s October 21 announcement. The allocations give two very different institutions fresh state support: one is creating a university center for civic leadership, while the other is building a residential high school designed around Alabama’s health-workforce needs.
Gov. Kay Ivey approved both awards at a meeting of the Public School and College Authority. Her office said the money is restricted to capital expenses and comes from interest accrued on the authority’s original 2020 issuance. The announcement also said more than $1.9 billion in PSCA funds has been awarded during Ivey’s tenure, though it did not provide construction schedules or itemized budgets for the two new awards.
Auburn plans a civic-leadership institute
Auburn said its $22 million state investment will establish the Kay Ivey Institute for Civic Leadership. In the university’s separate project announcement, officials described an institute focused on character, civic fluency, U.S. history and responsible leadership. Auburn said academic direction, programming and long-term priorities will be developed in coming months, an important limitation: the university has announced the institution and its broad mission, but not yet a full curriculum or operating plan.
The institute also carries the name of the sitting governor, an Auburn graduate. Auburn’s release framed that choice as recognition of Ivey’s public service. The state release described the payment as a capital award. Neither announcement identified an opening date, staffing level or recurring state appropriation, so the $22 million should not be read as a complete measure of future operating costs.
A growing health-sciences high school
The $5 million award goes to the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, a tuition-free residential public high school created by state law. The statute establishing the school placed it in Demopolis and authorized a fall 2026 opening, with funding allowed from state appropriations, grants and private donations.
The school began classes in August on a temporary University of West Alabama campus while its permanent Demopolis site is built. Its own institutional history says the inaugural class includes 79 freshmen and sophomores from 45 Alabama communities. It lists an earlier $15 million state commitment, a $26.4 million Bloomberg Philanthropies gift and land plus site-preparation support from Demopolis. The permanent campus is planned for the 2027-28 school year.
That context makes the new $5 million an addition to a broader funding stack, not the school’s entire construction budget. The governor’s office did not specify which buildings, equipment or site work it will cover. The practical next measures will be contracts, construction milestones and whether the two recipients publish detailed capital plans showing how each award is spent.
