A Recap of the State Board Of Education's
February 2007 Meeting

Morton to Meet with Superintendents on Proposed Bond Issue

State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton says the state Department of Education’s database has documented $4.3 billion in school construction, repair, renovation and other capital needs.

Morton, who made the announcement during Thursday’s state Board of Education K-12 meeting, will meet with local superintendents at the Gordon Persons Building at 10 a.m. Feb. 23 to discuss a proposed bond issue for schools’ facility needs.

Gov. Bob Riley has proposed a bond issue to borrow from $500 million to $625 million, and Senate President Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem has pre-filed a bill asking for a $750 million bond issue. The legislative vehicle for the bond issue most likely to move will be the $850 million proposal pre-filed by Senate Finance & Taxation Education Committee Chairman Hank Sanders and House Finance Appropriation Committee Chairman Richard Lindsey.

Like the other proposals, the Sanders/Lindsey proposal (S.6/H.21) is a placeholder for the bond issue that will be considered by the Senate Finance & Taxation Education and the House Finance Appropriation committees.

Details about how bond funds will be distributed, including how much will go toward K-12 and higher education, will be finalized during the legislative session. Sen. Mitchem’s bill would give 75 percent to K-12 and 25 percent to higher education, while the Sanders/Lindsey proposal outlines a 71 percent to 29 percent split.

While not in the bill language, current discussions revolve around distribution on a per pupil (average daily membership) basis for K-12, however there are several options that will be available to the legislature.

AASB advocates an approach – much like the formula used in the Public School Fund – that would distribute for K-12 50 percent purely on a per pupil basis and for the remainder then use a wealth-based formula to better help those school systems least able to generate local funding.

AASB is excited about the long-overdue bond issue, which could grow to be as much as $1 billion for capital needs.

At the state board’s meeting, Morton elaborated on the Feb. 23 meeting. “We know there are needs in our schools,” he said. “This would just be an attempt to make sure everybody’s on the same page and working toward a significant bond issue, so we can address building needs in our schools.”

Morton also plans to discuss the database of facility needs and the bond issue at the state board’s Feb. 22 work session in Montgomery.

“When you read in the paper that K-12 education has $4.3 billion in facility needs, that’s not a number we just plucked from the air,” Morton said. “It’s verifiable, and they (the needs) do exist. That’s why we’re excited about the bond issue, and we want to see it happen.”

Following a litany of resolutions – which included honoring the state’s two National Title I Distinguished Schools and its four 2006 Presidential Award finalists – the board approved a resolution to adopt the English language arts and the driver and traffic safety education state courses of study. The board also appointed the 2007-08 state Textbook Committee for reading/literature and driver and traffic safety education.

—Denise L. Berkhalter