Lawmakers upset over Robert Bentley’s comments, ‘Alabama’s education system sucks’

2016 just isn’t Gov. Robert Bentley‘s year.

The governor has again found himself the center of public scrutiny having been caught on film addressing the Alabama Association of Regional Councils Conference Wednesday saying “Alabama’s education system sucks.”

“I don’t use that term very much but I want to tell you this, when we are 51st on our NAEP scores in 4th-grade math in this state, that’s pretty sad and it’s intolerable,” Bentley told the crowd.

The state’s recent NAEP, National Assessment of Educational Progress, scores reveal the Yellowhammer State tied with the District of Columbia and New Mexico for a last-place ranking.

While the new state school superintendent, Michael Sentance, like Bentley, he wants to improve education in the state, some lawmakers are are none too happy with the governor’s candid, public remarks.

Hayden-Republican Rep. David Standridge, in a statement calling on Bentley to apologize said Alabama schools could improve, but “it is totally and wholly unacceptable for the governor to slam both hard working teachers and students with a blanket statement of disapproval.”

“To simply say everything sucks, to me, is not a good representation of the excellence that we have in some places,” Decatur-Republican Rep. Terri Collins, chair of the House Education Policy Committee.

Collins believes there are “pockets of excellence” in schools across the state.