When the draft of Alabama's proposed School Choice & Student Opportunity Act, which would create the Alabama Public Charter School Commission, was released last Friday, a copy was sent to all members of the newly formed P12 Education Task Force of northwest Alabama for review.
That group, the idea of Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, is comprised of approximately 27 members of current and retired educators from Franklin, Colbert and Lauderdale counties. The task force will meet this Thursday, February 26 at 5 p.m. at the Lauderdale County Board of Education office.
Sherrie Perkins, Engineering/Graphics career tech instructor at Muscle Shoals High School, serves as task force co-facilitator, along with Bill Jordan of Florence.
Perkins said the group will prepare an outline of its agenda, focused on three to five areas of educational issues, and present its findings to the legislative delegation in the three-county area.
While some educators are concerned that creation of charter schools will be to the detriment of Alabama public schools and take away vital funding, Alabama's overwhelmingly Republican-controlled House and Senate appears to have more than enough support to pass the legislation.
Like the plot twist near the end of a good novel, the 52-page proposed School Choice & Student Opportunity Act doesn't reveal any answers about funding until page 48.
The proposed bill stipulates that Alabama charter schools will receive “the same amount of state funds as allocated to local public schools for each student,” and the “same amount of local tax revenue.” (LRS 2015-607).
The legislation calls for creation of Alabama public charter schools, which much meet listed criteria, including autonomy over finance, personnel, scheduling and curriculum; being operated by an independent 501(c)(3) governing board; being a school where parents choose to send their children; and being operated under a contract between the governing board and its authorizer.
Although Morrow had not read the proposed act as of Friday morning, he is skeptical about the concept of charter schools working to the benefit of Alabama's children.
“This has the potential to change education even more to the negative than the Accountability Act did with its sweeping changes,” Morrow said. “I think our Franklin County appointees on the task force can speak for the educational community in Franklin County on this topic, and I'm certainly going to be listening to them."
The P12 task force brings together educational retirees, principals, superintendents, boards of education, faculty, parents and vocational educators. Franklin County committee members include Shannon Oliver, Greg Batchelor, Tim Guinn, Myra Frederick, Donald Borden, Mollie Bates, Kellie Patrick, Jarod Massey and Yvonne Foster. Some members serve in a rotational basis, while others are regular committee members.
Perkins said Thursday's meeting was needed because the 2015 legislative session begins March 3, and the task force wants to present its agenda to the legislative delegation, which includes Morrow, Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Greenhill and Rep. Lynn Greer, R-Rogersville.
Though each was invited to attend the task force's initial meeting in January, only Morrow and Black attended. Perkins expects the same two to attend Thursday. She said Pettus sent an email indicating he had a conflict Thursday, but the task force has not heard from the remaining legislators.
With Morrow having coordinated its formation, Perkins said there have been concerns from some the task force is just an arm of Morrow's.
“This committee was not hand-picked by Johnny Mack. In fact, it wasn't picked by him at all," Perkins said. "I really don't care whether our members are Democrat or Republican. We have both on the committee. The idea was to develop something so that our educational family in north Alabama can sit down with our legislators and discuss education. It's a tough battle ahead, but at this point we must stay focused on what's best for education and hope someday our legislators in office will overcome the fears and anxiety they have about being part of the education family.
“So far, it's been a struggle, but you can't throw in the towel. We face that battle every day in education when you have opposition like we've had the last few years. We wake up every day going to serve others, from the privileged to the underprivileged. From the custodians to the superintendents, that's in our hearts."
Stutts said he learned of the task force two days before its first meeting and was unable to attend. The first-year senator reiterated his focus on education and pledged to listen to his constituents on that important issue.
“I'm willing to talk with anyone with issues about education one-on-one at any time,” Stutts said. “Education is an absolute priority.”
As for the School Choice & Student Opportunity Act, Stutts had not seen the draft Friday, but he plans to solicit input from the educational field before deciding how to proceed.
“I've created an informal list of some educators whom I respect and speak with regularly, and I plan to sit down with them and review the bill and hear their thoughts on it," Stutts said. "So I absolutely plan to get input from educators."
