Demopolis healthcare school cause for disagreement

In her annual State of the State address, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey proposed building a boarding school for 14- to 17-year-old students interested in pursuing a career in the healthcare field. That school was to be in Demopolis. Few were aware of the proposal before the governor referenced it in her speech. The healthcare school has become a point of contention in the debate around the education budget package. The budget that passed the Alabama Senate on Thursday replaced the $30 million line item in the governor’s supplemental appropriation request with a $500,000 study by an outside firm to determine the feasibility and the best location for the new boarding school.

“It is sad that even very progressive areas are doing everything they can to try to kill our area,” State Rep. A.J. McCampbell told Alabama Today. “The school would be a game changer for our area.”

“We have a hospital,” McCampbell explained, working with the University of Alabama Birmingham hospital system.

Alabama Today asked McCampbell if the Demopolis hospital was having difficulty hiring nurses.

“It is hard to get RNs, even CNAs,” McCampbell said.

McCampbell said that the new healthcare schools are teaching people across healthcare. “Not just doctors, but also CNAs and LPNs,” McCampbell said.

State Senator Bobby Singleton attempted to restore some of that funding with an amendment on the floor of the Senate.

“There is real desire for health care workers,” Singleton said. “There is a need to get LPNs pushed out to the state.”

Singleton claimed that the school would allow “young people in high school to get some experience, and they will matriculate into the healthcare profession, particularly in rural areas.”

Singleton’s amendment was voted down in a 20 to 8, with only Democrats voting in favor.

“I would like to thank this body for telling little babies in West Alabama that they don’t mean anything,” Singleton said after losing the vote, “Thank you; this is why we will always be number 50.”

The State of Alabama started the Alabama School of Fine Arts for students with a gift and particular interest in music, art, dance, etc., in Birmingham in 1971. That was followed by the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile in 1989 and the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering in 2018. All of these are in major cities. Demopolis would be different from that kind of city experience. The population of Demopolis peaked at over 7,700 in 1980 but has declined from 7,483 in the 2010 census to just 6,763 in the most recent census estimate – a 10.6% decline. Just 18,741 people live in Marengo County (2022 census estimate). That is down from 20,955 in 2010 and 25,477 in 1977.

The 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session has been remarkable for its bipartisanship. Most bills are passing the House of Representatives with 100 or more votes, and it has been rare for more than three senators to vote against a bill in the Senate.

There was partisan disagreement on this amendment in the Senate as well as Democratic opposition in the Alabama House of Representatives to a bill that would make it a crime in Alabama for someone to take pay for helping people fill out their ballot or to hand out absentee ballot applications.

Tuesday will be day 19 of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session.

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