State Superintendent addresses Chamber on public education's future

During the August Chamber of Commerce Luncheon, State Superintendent Tommy Bice addressed the crowd on rethinking the future of public education in Alabama.

Bice was appointed Alabama’s state superintendent of education on Nov. 10, 2011 and assumed the position on January 1, 2012. Prior to his appointment, Bice was Alabama’s deputy state superintendent of education for instructional services, superintendent of the Alexander City School System, a high school principal, career tech director and held other various roles in education. He received degrees from Auburn University and University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Bice described the Vestavia Hills School System as the “North Star” of Alabama education.

“Vestavia Hills is the epitome of what public education should look like,” Bice said. “If you don’t know that, I’ll take you on a few tours.”

Bice shared some staggering education statistics. He said last year, in the state of Alabama, 64 percent of lunches served in public schools were free.

“Many of our public school children are living in poverty,” Bice said. “The children in Wilcox County deserve the same opportunities as the children in Vestavia Hills.”

Bice said one of the first things he did after assuming his position was travel across Alabama visiting colleges and asking departments one question: “What is missing in Alabama high school graduate when you get them?

He found a common response was a lack of intellectual curiosity.

“What we’ve done in public education over the years is relentlessly work to get students to pass a test, but we’ve done little to get them to think,” he said, adding the focus should be shifted to getting children “college and career ready.”

Bice tries to leave Montgomery once a week to visit a school somewhere in the state. He does not let the school know he is coming.

He shared one memory of visiting fifth-graders at a rural school near the Mississippi state line. He found these students building computer code that programed robots as well as transferring their classroom into a cityscape.

“Our kids are just as smart as we expect them to be,” he said.

He also emphasized that technology can’t replace a good teacher and that instructors in the state deserve better recognition and more resources to be creative.

“We’ve been so test score driven that we haven’t given teachers the safe space they need to try something new,” he said.

In summary, Bice described learning as something that should be “messy, loud and involved” within a collaborative environment.

“Every child should have a choice when they graduate to rise out of poverty and make a living,” Bice said.

The luncheon was sponsored by Spectrum Reach. The Chamber’s monthly luncheon series will reconvene on Wednesday, Sept. 9 with the State of the City address.