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Well, in the first place, the Governor "allocates" nothing. He sends up a proposed budget, has his floor leaders introduce bills to that effect, then they will be substituted in both the House and Senate Finance & Taxation Education Committees.
There used to be a "gentleman's agreement", back when Sen. Ryan deGraffenried still was the powerful voice for 4-year, that K-12 got 2/3 of the Education Budget, and the remaining 1/3 split between post-secondary (jr. colleges/technical) and higher ed. (4-year).
When Ryan left, that all fell apart.
No single lobbyist or organization is more powerful in the Legislature than Paul Hubbert, AEA......Over the past 10 years, Hubbert has taken more than the 2/3. This, combined with a very powerful voice for 2-year, has caused reduced overall funding for 4-year.
And, the 4-year colleges, while "officially" unified in their lobbying efforts, are not at all. Malcolm Portera says that the University of Alabama System is unified in its efforts, but that is simply not true. UAB hires out contract lobbyists (several), plus has several powerful legislators on the payroll (or members of their families)......About 4-5 years ago, AU brought AUM's separate lobbying effort into the overall AU governmental affairs office....Now, that office still exists, but AU has hired one of the blue-chip contract lobbying firms - Fine, Geddie & Associates (whoese top client is Bobby Lowder) to handle AU's lobbying efforts - this will absolutely include home-cooking on future Trustee stuff (we will have a vacancy in January).......
ACHE is like the Ottoman Empire - weak as a new-born kitten. No power, no clout - better at "studies", etc.
So, what is really all boils down to is who has the most clout. K-12, overwhelmingly, with 2-year right behind.
The 4-year colleges all lobby against each other for the scraps..........
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