Report recommends changes to Alabama’s education system
Recommendations have been made to improve education at the student and educator levels in Alabama by the Governor’s Commission on Teaching and Learning. The state should promote quality teaching and learning, offer more support for both impoverished and low-performing schools, bolster data collection and accountability, and improve the retention and development of educators, the report says. “These recommendations won’t just serve as mere guidelines; they are a blueprint – a roadmap to our goal of positioning Alabama among the top 30 states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, which is known as the nation’s report card,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a release. “They are vital guidelines as we navigate toward a brighter future for our children – one where opportunities flourish and aspirations are nurtured.” The commission recommended full implementation of the Alabama Literacy Act passed in 2019, which requires third graders to read on grade level before being advanced to fourth grade. It also recommended that kindergarten be mandatory, an expansion of the number of assistant principals at schools, and more computer science programs. The commission said in the report that the state’s prekindergarten program should be expanded to help poorer school districts. It also recommended creating a financial incentive program for struggling school districts to reduce chronic absenteeism. Another key item from the commission was the expansion of the state’s Turnaround Schools program, which pours personnel and money into struggling school districts to help them improve scores. The commission said the state Board of Education should change the state’s report card for districts and individual schools to expand transparency and ensure that every graduating high school student is considered college and career ready measured by an examination. The commission consisted of: • Business Education Alliance President and former State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton. • State Superintendent Eric Mackey. • State Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva. • State Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton. • State Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile • Montgomery City Schools Superintendent Melvin Brown. • Wetumpka High School Principal Kyle Futral. • Mountain Brook Schools Superintendent Dicky Barlow. • Booker T. Washington teacher Reggie White. • Alabama Parent Teacher Association President Donna McCurry. • Alabaster City Schools School board member Derek Henderson. • Retired Mississippi State Superintendent Carey Wright. • Whiteboard Advisors CEO, and co-founder, Ben Wallerstein. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Kay Ivey signs four executive orders to address education crisis
On Wednesday, Governor Kay Ivey released four new executive orders related to public education. The executive orders are intended to achieve Gov. Ivey’s inauguration day vow to get Alabama’s public school performance among the top 30 in the country. “I am proud to sign these executive orders into effect and believe they will lay an essential foundation for ensuring every Alabama student receives a high-quality education,” said Governor Ivey. “This is the first of many steps I plan to take in this new term to increase Alabama’s national ranking in our student’s reading and math performance. Our children are our future, and by investing in their education, we are investing in a better Alabama.” Alabama has poor-performing public schools. Far too many of Alabama’s public school students can’t do grade-level math, and far too many of Alabama’s children don’t read at grade level. The state has shown some recent improvement in state rankings, but this largely had more to do with other states’ performance dropping – due to extended COVID-19 school closures; than it has with more Alabama children mastering their studies. Executive Order 729 is intended to promote early literacy by establishing a statewide network with books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Ivey has authorized $4.1 million for the roll-out of the program. As promised in her inauguration speech, every Alabama child will begin receiving age-appropriate books by mail each month from birth until the age of five. Parents may opt their child out at any time. Executive Order No. 730 establishes the Governor’s Commission on Teaching and Learning. The commission will examine ways to enhance the quality of elementary and secondary education in Alabama and will produce a report of recommendations by December 1, 2023. The Members of the commission include: · Business Education Alliance President and former State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton (Chair) · State Superintendent of Education Dr. Eric Mackey · State Sen. Donnie Chesteen (R-Dothan) · Rep. Alan Baker (R-HD66) · Rep. Barbara Drummond (D-Mobile) · Montgomery City Schools Superintendent Dr. Melvin Brown · Holtville High School Principal Kyle Futral · Mountain Brook Schools Superintendent Dr. Dicky Barlow · Booker T. Washington K-8 Teacher Reggie White · Alabama Parent Teacher Association President Donna McCurry · Alabaster City Schools Schoolboard Member Derek Henderson · Retired Mississippi State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright · Co-founder and CEO of Whiteboard Advisors Ben Wallerstein Executive Order No. 731 directs the State Superintendent of Education to submit a report outlining past progress made to date as well as future action items to expeditiously ensure the implementation of the Literacy Act (2019), the Numeracy Act (2022), the Computer Science for Alabama Act (2019), a civics-test requirement (2017), and a requirement of the State Board of Education that every high school graduate obtain a college and career readiness indicator (2022). The reports are due June 30, 2023. Executive Order No. 732 established a K-12 teacher registered apprenticeship pilot program to increase pathways to the teaching profession. This pilot program will provide an additional pathway—initially, in areas with documented teacher shortages—for qualifying paraprofessionals and teacher’s aides to obtain a Class A or Class B teaching certificate by demonstrating competency in the classroom. The pilot program will be administered by the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship within the Department of Commerce. Gov. Ivey also sent a memo to Secretary of Early Childhood Education Dr. Barbara Cooper that directs the department to prioritize creating new First-Class Pre-K classrooms in counties where more than 20% of the population falls below federal poverty guidelines. Ivey hopes that increased access to Alabama’s nation-leading program will assist the state in reaching its education-based goals. Ivey signed three executive orders on Tuesday intended to improve government transparency and accountability. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Justin Bogie: Lower taxes, better education are keys to attracting business to Alabama, not incentives
The Alabama Jobs Act is set to expire on July 31, 2023, meaning that economic incentives could be a major topic of interest during next year’s regular legislative session. The chatter has already begun. Last month, Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield told a state economic incentive oversight committee that he thought the act should be extended and the current annual credit cap of $350 million should be removed. But is handing out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in economic incentives to large corporations each year sound fiscal policy? More importantly, are there other steps Alabama can take to make itself more competitive in attracting new businesses compared to neighboring states? If you are unfamiliar with the Alabama Jobs Act, it was first authorized by the Legislature in 2015 and provides payroll and investment credits to qualifying business projects that, with some exceptions, create at least 50 new jobs in the state. The program was reauthorized during the 2021 regular session, and the current cap on credits is $350 million per year. The law specifies that $20 million per year must be targeted to counties with populations less than 25,000. Before thinking about expanding or removing the cap on incentives, the first question legislators should ask is this: do economic incentives work? Evidence suggests that they do not. A 2019 report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University found state and local governments nationwide give out an estimated $95 billion in economic incentives per year. In contrast, those same governments in total collected less than $66 billion in corporate income taxes in 2019. A supposed benefit of economic incentives is that it will create new jobs in Alabama. According to the Brookings Institution, on average, only 10-30% of the new jobs created through economic incentives end up being filled by state residents who are unemployed. Many of the new positions will end up being filled by Alabama residents who are already working or from new employees coming from outside the state. This means the cost of public services inevitably rises. Brookings estimates this increase in the cost of services offsets any increased tax revenues from wages by at least 90%. Incentives are particularly ineffective in states with low unemployment rates, where at best, citizens who are already employed will shift to a different company or career. Alabama’s unemployment rate is currently at a record low of 2.6%. Another downfall of economic incentives is they allow state and local governments to pick winners and losers. It means that companies already conducting business in the same industry as a new company that moves to Alabama will be paying higher tax rates. All Alabamians pay the price. The state does not just give away $350 million in tax incentives every year. The money is recouped through a higher tax burden on not only other corporations but citizens as well. Economic incentives also favor large corporations over small businesses. A 2015 study by Good Jobs First found big businesses received 90% of state and local economic incentives. In most cases, at least 50 new jobs must be created to receive incentives in Alabama. What does that do for the small family-run business that employs ten people? They are already at a disadvantage compared to larger companies. Economic incentives aimed at large corporations make it even harder for small businesses to survive. Instead of giving out more economic incentives, Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Legislature should be looking for ways to fundamentally make Alabama more competitive with neighboring states in attracting new businesses. The two primary areas of focus should be tax policy and education. In terms of corporate income tax rates, Alabama’s rate is higher than Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Kentucky in the Southeast, making it one of the worst in the region. Lower corporate tax rates mean lower costs of doing business in the long term, not just during the period of economic incentives. It levels the playing field for both small and large companies. On the individual income tax side, Florida and Tennessee have no income taxes. Georgia and Mississippi have already enacted legislation to reduce rates over the next few years. If Alabama wants to be competitive and incentivize citizens to remain living and working in Alabama, it must follow suit. There is also the issue of education. Businesses considering moving to Alabama need a qualified workforce if they are going to be successful. Alabama consistently ranks near the bottom in national test scores and the worst in the Southeast, well below Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi. A recent column by former Alabama State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton highlighted that in 2021, 16% of Alabama’s high school graduates were not college or career ready. He asked, “What signal does it send to business and industry?” Not a good one. These are the issues Alabama’s government should be focused on improving if it wants to attract new businesses and keep existing businesses in Alabama. They do not want handouts. They want lower taxes, less government interference, and a capable workforce. Economic incentives should be Alabama’s last resort in securing new businesses. Lower tax rates and a better-educated workforce will be enough incentive. It will also improve the lives of all Alabamians. Justin Bogie is the Senior Director of Fiscal Policy for the Alabama Policy Institute.
Joe Morton: Attracting and retaining the “best and brightest” teachers is key
Regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, a conservative or a liberal, all of us want to see improved student achievement year after year after year across all grades and in all schools in Alabama. Attracting and retaining talented educators is a key to achieving that goal, so, in 2015, the Business Education Alliance of Alabama (BEA) commissioned a research report titled “Teachers Matter: Rethinking How Public Education Recruits, Rewards and Retains Great Educators.” A key section of our report concentrated upon teacher evaluations and compared Alabama’s methodology to those of other states across the nation. We discovered that virtually every state, including ours, uses student improvement in academic achievement as a portion of their teacher evaluations. In some states, student achievement counts for as much as half of a teacher’s evaluation, while in Alabama the pilot program that has not been fully developed comprises just 25 percent, but our study revealed that all states feel it is integral to the overall score. Any state utilizing student academic growth for teacher evaluations must have quality assessments that are fair, relevant and remove any hints of bias. Alabama currently utilizes three such assessments – the ACT exam given to all high school students; the ACT Aspire given to all students in grades 3-8; and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) funded by Congress and given to a fair sampling of students in grades 4 and 8 in all 50 states. The NAEP is called the “Nation’s Report Card,” and it is the only assessment that measures student progress in every state against a true national norm, but it cannot be used for teacher evaluation purposes since it is a “sampling” assessment. The high school ACT and the ACT Aspire can be used for the student academic growth portion of teacher evaluations, and both are already adopted by the State Board of Education. Alabama has a good student assessment program that provides excellent insight into our areas of strength and areas needing improvement. The latest ACT results from Alabama high schools show that roughly 16 percent of our students were ready for college-level coursework by scoring at benchmark levels in English, Mathematics, Reading and Science. The national average of students making benchmark scores on the ACT is 28 percent. The RAISE Act, which stands for “Rewarding Advancement in Instruction and Student Excellence,” is being sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R – Anniston) and calls for several “firsts” in Alabama while also supporting actions already taken by the State Board of Education. If enacted into law, the RAISE Act will make first year teachers the highest paid in the Southeast and attract more young people to the profession of teaching, provide funding to a first year mentoring program to ensure our new teachers are supported by a veteran teacher, create a rewards program for entire school faculties which gives incentives for either maintaining or improving already high quality results or for schools that show notable improvements in student achievement gains and provide bonuses to teachers who work in hard to staff positions in low performing schools, rural schools or both. It also changes the length of time provided for new teachers to attain tenure from the current three years to five. By combining quality teacher evaluations, a recruitment plan for hard to staff teaching jobs, a program for enhancing first year teacher success with a mentoring program, and a school-based rewards program based upon results, the RAISE Act can build a solid pathway to improved student achievement. If we continue to implement needed education reforms and innovations like the RAISE Act in Alabama’s public schools, every student can one day become career and college ready, and the better prepared workforce that results will allow our state’s economy to continue to grow. Teachers Matter! —- Dr. Joe Morton is a former state superintendent of education and currently serves as chairman and president of the Business Education Alliance of Alabama. He may be reached at jmorton@beaalabama.com.
