Money that was set aside to expand Alabama's pre-kindergarten program should have gone to the court system instead, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore said Friday. "They're giving $9.4 million to a program that didn't exist the last time I was chief justice," Moore said at a Calhoun-Cleburne County Bar Association luncheon at Anniston's Classic on Noble. Speaking to a crowd that included several current and former judges, Moore said the court system is facing strain, as courthouses struggle to keep up with their caseload after years of shrinking budgets. The 2014 budget recently passed by the Legislature would give the judicial branch $108.4 million in 2014, an increase of more than $5 million. Still, that increase comes on the heels of hefty cuts in previous years, and Moore said the court system has been forced to lay off 450 employees in the last decade. This year's increase is $8.5 million less than Moore asked for in the 2014 budget, and he said courts will have to consider layoffs of another 150 employees if the financial situation doesn't improve. "They've cut our budgets so much for so long that it's going to affect your practice," Moore told the lawyers at the luncheon. Calhoun County District Attorney Brian McVeigh said his office has seen the effects of the cuts. "You don't have the money to hire people that you need, you just hire the amount of people you can get by with," he said. Moore singled out the state's expansion of its pre-kindergarten as one expense the state could have cut to give more funding to the courts. Gov. Robert Bentley and some legislators have been pushing for the expansion of pre-K, a voluntary preschool program for 4-year-olds that, advocates say, better prepares kids for school and shrinks the gap in academic performance between affluent and poor kids. Alabama's pre-K program, funded at $19 million in 2013, serves only 6 percent of the state's 4-year-olds. Earlier this year, Bentley asked for an additional $12 million to expand the program. Lawmakers approved a $9.4 million expansion, which is expected to allow the program to cover 9 percent of the state’s 4-year-olds. Moore said that money could have gone to the court system — which, unlike pre-K, is a function demanded by the Alabama Constitution. "We're the only people, in the Constitution, who are guaranteed funding," he said. The governor's spokesman, Jeremy King, said the governor had shown his support for both courts and pre-K. "Courts and pre-K are both important, and both are getting increased funding in the new budgets," King said. King noted that the court system gets its money from the General Fund budget, the state's budget for all non-education agencies. Pre-K gets its money from the Education Trust Fund, a separate budget for schools. Pre-K advocate Allison de la Torre, director of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance, alluded to the same budget divide in a brief statement Friday afternoon. "The Alabama School Readiness Alliance is grateful to the governor for prioritizing funds earmarked for education to go to voluntary pre-kindergarten," she said. Moore said he had hoped lawmakers would use Education Trust Fund money to pay for some of the court system's juvenile probation officers. He said that money would help children stay in school while alleviating the strain on the court system. Retired Calhoun County Circuit Judge Malcolm Street said budget neglect of the court system was an Alabama problem dating back to at least the 1960s. "Many legislators view us as a department and not a co-equal branch," he said. The court system is funded partly through court fees, Street said, and lawmakers find it easier to impose fees than to find funding in the state budget. Street said fees were beginning to reach the level at which they were denying some people access to the court system. "It can reach a point of impeding people from exercising their right to go to court," he said. Moore said lawmakers approved new fees last year that were intended to help courts make up for the money lost to cuts. Those fees, he said, didn't yield as much revenue as lawmakers predicted. He said judges had warned that they wouldn't. Moore said he expected the courts to get additional money if the state's revenues exceed projections — something written into this year's budget. "I expect it to come, and if it doesn't you will hear my voice," he said. Capitol & statewide reporter Tim Lockette: 256-294-4193. On Twitter @TLockette_Star.

HOOVER -- Mike Oczypok’s day to shine came against one of the nation’s premier college programs in the nation’s premier conference tournament, and the walk-on freshman right-hander seized the moment Friday. Had he seized just one more moment against second-ranked LSU, Alabama would still be playing in the SEC tournament. Oczypok came one out short of a complete game, as LSU scored a pair of two-out runs in the top of the ninth inning and beat Alabama 3-2 in Friday’s first elimination game at the Hoover Met. LSU (50-9), which also beat Alabama 3-0 on Tuesday, will play Arkansas in Saturday’s noon elimination game. Alabama (34-26) awaits Monday’s announcement of the NCAA tournament field. “Obviously, this is a really tough one,” Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. “I thought Mike was just tremendous today. “It was a well-played game, and I give LSU credit there in the ninth inning.” LSU scored the go-ahead runs on Tyler Moore’s RBI double off Oczypok (4-2) and Ty Ross’ run-scoring single off reliever Jay Shaw. Moore’s game-tying hit came after Oczypok delivered a 3-1 fastball for a strike to force a full count. Moore then fouled off two pitches before hitting into the right-center field gap to plate pinch runner Jared Foster, who came on after Christian Ibarra’s two-out single. “I saw the first pitch and fouled that off then went to a 3-1 count,” Moore said. “Then he threw a fastball for a strike. “Then I was looking for a pitch, and I was just going to swing hard and, hopefully, hit something in the gap. I got a few OK pitches and fouled those off, and then he gave me a pretty good pitch to hit.” Ross hit a 1-1 fastball from Shaw to left field to score Moore. Oczypok worked 8 2/3 innings and 120 pitches, spreading out 10 hits and striking out five batters with one walk. All three runs were earned, but he kept LSU off-balance most of the day with his sinking, two-seam fastball. His pitching led to ground balls. LSU got its lead-off batter on base five times, but Alabama turned four double plays behind him. The last double play on a Raph Rhymes grounder to record the first two outs of the ninth inning, after Mason Katz hit a lead-off single. “At the end, I was just trying to throw strikes and make some pitches,” Oczypok said. “I left one up, and they just hit it in the gap. “It was a big hit for them. That’s baseball.” Before Friday, Oczypok (4-2) made four starts. His only other loss of the season came in a 16-inning game at LSU, where he surrendered three runs on three hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings of work April 20. Oczypok didn’t make the team a year ago but made strides during summer ball in Chicago and Boston. He turned down an offer from Penn State to try out again at Alabama. His other three starts this season were against UAB, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State, but he had made relief appearances in SEC games. Friday’s game in a nearly full Hoover Met was his biggest to date. “The one thing with Mike is, you know, all the stuff he’s been through to get to get to the spot that he’s in today,” Gaspard said. “He’s an ultra-confident guy. He’s been through a lot to get to this spot, and the team is very confident in him.” Alabama was playing its fourth game in the tournament, and Oczypok got the start Friday partly because Ray Castillo’s shoulder soreness forced Tucker Hawley to close in a victory over Ole Miss on Thursday. Hawley’s relief work Thursday took him out of consideration for a start Friday. Oczypok’s command Friday caught even Gaspard off-guard. Gaspard said his hope was to get halfway through the game then piece things together with his bullpen. LSU was even more baffled. “Their pitcher surprised us a little bit,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “He was pretty good. He had a good, hard sinker. He had good velocity. He threw a lot of strikes and did a really nice job. “I’m sure Mitch and his staff are really happy with the way their pitcher pitched, because he was a lot more of a challenge than maybe we would have thought going into the game because I knew they were getting pretty deep into their staff.” Mikey White’s run-scoring triple to left-center field and Brett Booth’s single to right field to score White gave Alabama its first lead, 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sean McMullen got LSU on the board, driving a ball to the wall in left-center field to score Moore from second base with two outs in the top of the third inning. Moore walked and reached second on Stevenson’s grounder. LSU reliever Nate Fury (2-1) picked up the win, and closer Chris Cotton struck out all three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth to pick up his 14th save of the season. LSU starter Ryan Eades worked seven completing innings, allowing four hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Sports columnist Joe Medley: 256-235-3576, jmedley@annistonstar.com. On Twitter @jmedley_star.