Special to the
Opelika Observer
Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh (R-Anniston) released the following statement regarding final passage of the school governance constitutional amendment.
“This is a great day for education in Alabama. In the spring the voters will have the opportunity to fundamentally reform education in this state unlike we have seen at any point in the past 50 years and move to a system that has proven to work in the states who are top ranked in education across the country.”
“For far too long, our children and our teachers have been held hostage and used as a bargaining chip and we have seen the sad results- last in the country in education.”
“Next March, the voters will have the chance to send a strong message that enough is enough. We want a school board that is capable of making decisions in the best interests of our schools, a school board that has the interests of our teachers and students at heart and a school board this resembles the face of education in this state.”
“I believe our students learn best when innovation is allowed to take place in the classroom. That is not happening with our current system. If we have a school board that is made up of qualified individuals, we can increase local control and significantly reduce the amount of time the Legislature spends on education reform and put the power back where it belongs, in the hands of educators.”
“Finally, the voters will have the opportunity to remove the last vestiges of the failed common core standards. Like many, I wanted to give common core a chance to work but it is beyond obvious to anyone paying attention that it has not been a success. Repeal and replacing this failed system with strong standards, put forward by a reasonable school board, will only improve the quality of education for our students and put Alabama back on the right track of making our education system competitive on a national level.”
“I want to thank everybody in the Legislature who supported this bold reform. Change is never easy, yet members of the House and the Senate supported this legislation regardless of political party, economic status, race or gender. Every member of the Legislature who voted for this showed that they believe our children and their education come first and I thank them all for their support.”
“I also want to thank Governor Ivey. As I have stated in the past, there is nobody else in the state who could have built such a broad coalition of support. I truly believe that this is a watershed moment for education in Alabama and I thank her for her leadership.”