Legislators, school board discuss priorities

Before they returned to Montgomery, state legislators in Madison County met with Madison Board of Education. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Before returning to Montgomery, state legislators who represent Madison County took time to meet with Madison Board of Education members on Jan. 28.

Board members, school administrators, Madison City Schools Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler and Madison County Schools personnel gathered for a breakfast meeting with legislators to discuss education issues and budget concerns with the lawmakers.

State representatives Mike Ball, Howard Sanderford, Laura Hall, Phil Williams and Anthony Daniels attended the session at the Central Office in Madison.

“The meeting allowed instructive discussions on funding issues involving transportation, current teaching units, technology and OCE (other current expenses),” John Peck said. Peck is Public Relations Manager for Madison City Schools.

Other topics concerned sustainable teacher raises and the importance of local control over any new teacher evaluation system that the legislature may develop.

Many teachers are concerned about the proposed RAISE act (Rewarding Advancement in Instruction and Student Excellence). RAISE would change tenure from three to five years and establish evaluation procedures for classroom teachers.

Madison board members hope that the legislators keep the General Fund and Education Budget separate and void of crossover programs, Peck said.

“As they go to Montgomery and start looking at our different budgets, it’s important that they know, from our perspective, what we consider to be important items for the budget,” Fowler said about the lawmaker’s priorities.

Alabama State Legislature reconvened for the 2016 regular session on Feb. 2. Alabama Association of School Boards has stated that the legislative agenda for the House Republican Caucus will cover pay raises for teachers, Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) pension reform and a school security task force.