Vol. 20, No. 3, February 15, 2008

Deputy State Superintendent Dr. Ruth Ash 
to Retire April 1

Another top administrator at the state Department of Education plans to retire.  Deputy State Superintendent of Education Dr. Ruth Ash, who has served in the position 3 1/2 years, will retire April 1.  State Superintendent Dr. Joe Morton announced Ash's retirement at the state Board of Education meeting Thursday during his report to the board. Ash is a former local superintendent and college dean.  This winter another veteran of the department, Assistant Superintendent of Reading Dr. Katherine Mitchell, retired as well.

During Morton's report, he praised Gov. Bob Riley, who did not attend the meeting, for the governor's 2009 budget proposal because it protects key K-12 funding.  He explained that the proposal includes $399 million in cuts from the current fiscal year, which are necessary because of slowed growth in the ETF, but he added:  "It's the best possible budget we could have under the circumstances."  Morton noted the governor proposed increases for the Alabama Reading Initiative, Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative and distance learning, while Other Current Expense funding, which supports school maintenance, was preserved and only small cuts were made in such areas as textbooks compared to previous budgets when cutbacks were necessary.  "It could have been so much worse," he said.

The board's next meeting is a Feb. 28 work session in Montgomery. Its regular K-12 meeting is March 13.

In other business, the board took routine action to: 

• Recommend an Early College Enrollment Program.
• Appoint the 2008-09 state Textbook-English Language Arts and the Bible as Literature Elective Course Committee.
• Receive the resolution for adopting the 2008 Alabama Course of Study for Technology Education and 2008 Alabama Course of Study for Career Technical Education.
• Resolutions to appoint the Health Education and Physical Education Course of Study Committee and the Mathematics Course of Study Committee. 
• Recognize March as Arts Education Month in Alabama schools.
• Designating Feb. 23-March 1 as Alabama Entrepreneurship Week.
• Proclaiming Feb. 11-15 as Growing Our Own Week in celebration of teachers.