Franklin County Board of Education files lawsuit to clarify ownership of property adjacent to Interstate 22 in Fayette and Walker Counties
The attorney for the Franklin County Board of Education hopes a recently filed lawsuit will clarify the board’s ownership of certain Section Sixteen ‘indemnity lands’ located in Fayette and Walker Counties.
Russellville attorney Danny McDowell filed the lawsuit on August 8th in Franklin County Circuit Court, naming three defendants, including Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, State Superintendent of Education Dr. Eric Mackey and Chris Blankenship, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Although those parties were named, they are not being sued individually. Instead, they are sued in their official capacities as cited above.
The case was filed under the Alabama Declaratory Judgment Act, where the filing party asks a Court to clarify its legal position or rights in a matter where there may be some uncertainty between the parties.
In this case, The FCBOE is asking the Court to confirm its outright ownership of and ability to sell a portion of Section Sixteen property in Fayette and Walker Counties located on and adjacent to Interstate 22.
The land at issue was the subject of a 2024 Constitutional Amendment overwhelmingly approved by Alabama voters.
That amendment followed the Alabama Legislature’s passage of Act #2024-301, which provided for a proposed amendment to the Alabama Constitution if approved by voters in the November 2024 general election.
The original bill, HB239, was filed by Rep. Jamie Kiel (R-Russellville), and would allow sale of Sixteenth Section property owned by the FCBOE in Fayette and Walker Counties. The original bill provided for indemnity lands held in trust by the State of Alabama to be transferred to the Franklin County Board of Education, who would then have legal authority to manage, sell, lease and control the land and any and all timber or mineral rights of the land.
That bill was withdrawn, according to McDowell, for ‘reasons not relevant to these proceedings,’ and a substitute bill prepared by the Legislative Reference Service, contained revised language describing the school lands as those ‘owned in fee simple by the Franklin County School System.’
McDowell asserts this was what’s known as a scrivener’s error, defined as a mistake in a legal document that was not done intentionally.
Owning land ‘in fee simple,’ as the revised bill’s language reflected, would mean land already owned by the Franklin County Board of Education with no encumbrances or limitations on its use.
Were that the case with the Sixteenth Section lands in Fayette and Walker Counties, no amendment would have been necessary as the FCBOE could outright convey the land without receiving advance permission from any other entity.
Sixteenth Section lands were approved by Congress in 1819 when Alabama was admitted into the Union. The 16th Section of every Alabama township was granted to the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools.
If sufficient land was not available in a certain township, or contained land with no value, other lands were granted for the same educational purposes in place of Sixteenth Section lands. These lands, generally located in a different county from where the school system is, are known as ‘indemnity lands.’
The Code of Alabama places the management and supervision of Section Sixteen and indemnity lands in the hands of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The FCBOE owns around 1,450 acres of land in Fayette and Walker Counties. While the board owns that land, it cannot manage leases or sell the land without approval of the State Superintendent of Education and the Governor.
Approximately 225 acres of ‘indemnity lands’ are located at the intersection of Highway 13 and Interstate 22, an area that has seen meteoric development since the opening of the interstate. As a result, the value of the land owned by the FCBOE has skyrocketed and holds tremendous value for future development and/or sale in the fast-growing location.
As support for its Declaratory Judgment petition, McDowell attached numerous articles from statewide media reflecting that what the amendment contemplated was outright transfer of the indemnity lands to the Franklin County Board of Education.
The complaint describes the addition of the words ‘owned in fee simple’ as “mere surplusage and said legislation and constitutional amendment was intended to refer to those ‘school lands’ held for the benefit of the FCBOE. Sixteenth Section and indemnity lands cannot be ‘owned in fee simple’ by any board or authority and are held in trust by the State for the benefit of schools.
Now that the lands are adjacent to a new interstate, the petition alleges the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has taken the position that no land can be transferred to the FCBOE because of the ‘owned in fee simple’ language.
McDowell said the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials have conveyed this legal position to the Franklin County Board of Education, thus requiring the school system to file the Declaratory Judgment petition.
In addition to asking the Court to rule that the constitutional amendment refers to indemnity lands in Fayette and Walker Counties held for the benefit of Franklin County Schools, the complaint seeks reimbursement from the defendants for its attorney’s fees and costs incurred in having to file the petition.
Similar constitutional amendments vesting outright ownership of Sixteenth Section lands to school systems have previously been approved, including a 2012 constitutional amendment allowing Cullman County Schools control to sell or manage valuable land located adjacent to Smith Lake. The school system sold that land in 2021 for more than $16 million.
As of August 18, 2025, court files indicate there has not yet been service upon the three defendants and no trial date has been set.