Alabama Organizations Step Up Advocacy After Lawsuit is Dismissed

On May 31, 2002, the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed ACE v. Siegelman, Alabama's education adequacy case, which had been a long-standing liability decision in favor of the plaintiffs. Although the state's education advocates no longer had a court victory to support their agenda, they seem to be turning a negative into a positive. Two major school reform initiatives have been launched since the summer of 2002.

More than 20 grassroots advocacy organizations are attempting to build broad support for the State Department of Education's Realizing Every Alabama Child's Hopes (R.E.A.C.H.) Campaign, an education adequacy funding plan. The Department of Education, which unveiled the $1.6 billion plan in July, has formed a Strategic Planning Group including A+, VOICES for Alabama's Children, Alabama ARISE, the Children First Foundation, the Alabama PTA, and the Association of Alabama School Boards. The group is directed by Bill Cook of the Cambridge Group, an international strategic planning center for education. At a strategic planning meeting on November 8, group members enumerated ten collaborative initiatives, including a "media campaign" and a "get out the vote plan," that will begin to be implemented in early 2003.

On November 11, members of the Alabama business communities unveiled the Campaign for Alabama, which adds important allies to the statewide education- and tax- reform movements. The Campaign, which will be led by Former Business Council of Alabama President Bill O'Connor and Sid McAnnally, an attorney and A+ Board Member, will aim to identify and support practical solutions to the state's financial crisis. The budget shortfall limits education and other important government services, and citizens are not confident in government spending. These issues must be addressed, O'Connor said, because "Alabama's future is tied directly to the quality of education in this state."

Prepared November 18, 2002