2008 could be best year ever for schools

By Staff
Rep. Ronald Grantland, Guest Columnist
As we come to the end of the year, it is a good time to reflect on the positive things that happened over the course of the past twelve months. One of the first things that come to mind is the progress we've made in Alabama schools. It has to be one of the top stories of 2007.
For the first time ever, Alabama lead the nation in improvement in elementary reading scores. That bears repeating. Alabama was number one in the nation for progress in reading.
There is a benchmark test that all fourth graders across the nation take to measure how well students can comprehend and express what they have read. Our scores had the biggest jump of all states, and was one of the biggest yearly gains in the history of these kinds of tests. This is an amazing accomplishment, and it is a clear indication that the recent investments we've made in our schools is starting to pay dividends.
That is another key aspect of the education story; in 2007 we passed the strongest education budget in the history of the state. We are investing more into every classroom, hiring more teachers, funding important things like school nurses, and increasing resources for programs that we know work.
For the first time the Alabama Reading Initiative, the homegrown teaching program that has become a model for the nation, was fully funded and implemented in every Alabama school. We invested more into technology, books, classroom materials, and infrastructure.
We also invested more into our teachers. We were able to expand the program that helps Alabama teachers become nationally board certified, the highest qualification for educators. We were able to expand the Alabama Math and Science Initiative, a program based on the Reading Initiative, to improve math and science instruction.
For the first time we were able to fund a program to help experienced qualified teachers mentor new teachers just coming out of college and into schools. In addition, for the fist time we set up a scholarship program to encourage young people in our state to go into teaching, helping pay for tuition if they promise to go back to elementary and high schools and teach.
The strong education for this past year extends a trend we've had in recent years of having more revenue for schools. As the Alabama economy continued to grow at a record pace, the sales and income taxes dedicated to education grew as well. As we look back at the accomplishments of hard working students and teachers, we can take pride that the money going to schools was well spent.
As we look to 2008, there may be some clouds on the horizon. As the economy across the nation slows, the economy locally has started to feel its effects. Revenue collections have slowed, and it looks like the budget process for this next year may be more difficult than in the recent past. The good news is that we were able to save money as the economy was flush, and store it into what is known as “rainy day” accounts. Even if we dip into those accounts to make sure we pay the bills today, it is an improvement. In the past, when revenue would plunge we would go into proration, the ugly process of cutting school budgets in the middle of a school year. We must keep proration a thing of the past.
It is important that now we have positive momentum built up in our schools we keep it going. That is what I look forward to seeing in 2008.