Local school leaders are asking House members to approve a bill to transition Alabama to the most effective school governance model of appointing school superintendents.

 

House Must Vote to Protect School Leadership from Politics

 

Local school leaders are asking House members to approve a bill to transition Alabama to the most effective school governance model of appointing school superintendents. Upon passage of S. 280 (Brewbaker), Alabama would become the 49th state to appoint superintendents, leaving Florida as the only state where school superintendents run political campaigns every four years.

S.280 fixes a fundamental flaw

It is an inherent conflict and tremendous burden for a superintendent to lead schools effectively, knowing each decision will impact potential votes in an upcoming election.House members must end the governance structure that requires local leaders to face political challenges from peers and administrative team members. That model divides staff loyalties and breeds mistrust by its very nature of setting up political adversaries within the system.

S. 280 (Brewbaker) meets the request from elected superintendents and local lawmakers so that the best local governance structure is provided and local home rule recognized.The bill is drafted purposefully as a statutory provision, not a statewide constitutional amendment. Its first provision expressly states the statute would NOT apply if a local constitutional amendment is in place.

The bill provides a delayed implementation date to accommodate current incumbents the opportunity to seek and serve another term.

Three Options for elected superintendents

Option 1:Contract

Upon passage of the bill, for every elected superintendent, a local school board may offer the incumbent superintendent a contract without being required to post a vacancy notice. If the incumbent accepts the contract, the position transitions to an appointed office. This option is available at any time after bill passage.

Option 2:Elected in 2016; Run in 2020

The incumbent may seek and serve another four-year term in 2020.At the end of the term, the position defaults to an appointed office in 2024. If a local constitutional amendment is passed by 2024, the transition is not required.

Option 3:Elected in 2014; Run in 2018

The incumbent may seek and serve another four-year term in the current 2018 election cycle.At the tend of the term, the position defaults to an appointed office in 2022. If a local constitutional amendment is passed by 2022, the transition is not required.

Franklin County, the only local system that currently has a constitutional amendment authorizing an elected superintendent, would not be impacted.Each district has time to address its governance through a local constitutional amendment should its community choose the elected model.Vote YES S.280

 

ETF budget conferees to meet

House and Senate conferees have been named but have not yet met to hammer out differences in the $6.6 billion Education Trust Fund budget.The Senate made changes to H.175 (Poole) and now three lawmakers from each body will craft a compromise that each chamber must approve before forwarding the budget to the governor.

The House conferees:Chairman Bill Poole, Rep. Rod Scott and Rep. Mark Tuggle

The Senate conferees:Chairman Arthur Orr, Sen. Bobby Singleton and Sen. Larry Stutts

View ETF budget spreadsheet

 

Budget- related bills

H.174 (Poole) — Education pay raise — would provide a 2.5 percent pay raise to education employees. Sent to the governor for signature.

H.179 (Poole) — $41m K-12 supplemental —would provide a $41 million supplemental appropriated to K-12 this year. Funding from the Advancement & Technology Fund can be used in repairs and deferred maintenance; classroom instructional support; insurance for facilities; transportation; or acquisition or purchase of technology, and now as amended, can be used for school security.

S.21 (Dial) — 13th check for retirees — would provide a one-time lump sum to education retirees.The formula provides one dollar for every month in the years of an education retiree’s service. The funding would come from a PEEHIP reserve savings account in the Teachers Retirement System.Pending final passage in House.

 

Pending governor’s signature

H.31 (Crawford) — Outside employment—would remove the prohibition against county school superintendents being employed outside the school system upon school board approval.

H.69 (Standridge)— HVAC competitive bid— would provide an option to participate in purchasing cooperatives for heating and A/C units.

H.194 (Weaver)— Medical DNR for minors —would authorize a portable DNR for minors.

H.202 (Weaver)— Limited DNR in schools —would narrowly incorporate a DNR order for minors in school settings. Only school nurses bound by the DNR order; liability immunity provided for employees.

H.261 (Lovvorn) — AL Math & Science Teacher Education Program — AMSTEP would provide federal education loan repayment awards to eligible public school teachers, with an additional amount available to those who teach in areas with acute shortages.

H.366 (Knight) — Student bullying — would provide the Jamari Terrell Williams Act and updates current law to include cyberbullying; require schools programmatically address the issue with students/faculty and review resources.

S.26 (Chambliss)*— Annalyn’s Law — would amend notification process; require school boards to implement a policy for the supervision and monitoring of students identified as juvenile sex offenders.*amended; not yet posted.

S.181 (Dial)—Ten Commandments — would propose a constitutional amendment to provide for the display of the Ten Commandments on state or public school property. A constitutional amendment bypasses governor signature.

S.101 (Orr) — Gifted program grant — would give the State Department of Education authority to offer competitive grants for gifted programs. Local school boards must provide up to a five percent match of any grant funds awarded.

S.212 (Orr)— Cyber school — would create a statewide residential Alabama cyber technology & engineering school to be located in Huntsville area with its own board of trustees.

S.323 (Pittman)— ATF option — would add school safety programs as an authorized spending option for the ATF in the Rolling Reserve Act.

S.365 (Figures) – Rosa Parks Day – would allow local entities to observe Mrs. Rosa L. Parks Day on first day of December.

 

Education bills pending

H.236 (Pettus)— School resource officers — would authorize a federal, state or local certifiedlaw enforcement officer, retired in good standing, with at least 20 years’ experience to serve as an SRO.Pending final passage in the Senate.

H.447 (Collins) — School safety task force — would reconstitute the Alabama Task Force on School Safety and Security to annually study educational and safety laws, make legislative recommendations. Senate amended and passed by 27-0 vote.

H.498 (Baker) — PLOP option for retirees — would allow retirees a 5th option from TRS; provides a partial lump sum of up to 24 months of allowance as an up-front distribution with reduced benefits thereafter.Pending in House.

S.151 (Smitherman) — Terrorist threat — would specify threats to schools and churches are included in the Class C felony crime. Pending final passage in the House.

S.391 (Melson) — Bible electives — Would allow public schools to offer elective courses on the study of the Bible.Pending in Senate.

S.318 (Orr) — Data breach notification — would provide protocol upon unauthorized acquisition ofpersonally identifying information. Senate must concur with House amendment.