Mental health, education lottery discussed at PTO roundtable

Legislators from around the Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills areas came together to discuss school-related policy issues at the 2021 PTO Legislative Forum, hosted by the Mountain Brook Board of Education on Nov. 16.

On the topic of mental health, a PTO representative said mental health services are obviously needed, and asked legislators if they would support funding a full-time counselor for each school, following previous year’s funding of mental health initiatives via state grants.

State Rep. David Faulkner said he foresees the legislature continuing to expand mental health funding and added that as Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills have the two highest millage rates in the state, allowing them to do more than what they might get from the state through grants.

State Sen. Dan Roberts said it depends on whether the money is there for that level of funding. While federal funding helps for a short time, adding personnel is an ongoing cost, he said.

“At some point, we have to pay the piper too on all this money that’s floating around,” Roberts said.

Based on the responses of all the legislators present, it would not appear a vote on an education lottery will be coming in 2022. State Sen. Jabo Waggoner, the state’s longest-serving legislator and one of the leading figures in Montgomery, said it’s unusual to have something so controversial come up during an election year like 2022. However, he cited a study that found 80% of Republican voters want a chance to vote on the lottery, without indicating how they would vote on such an amendment. The bill that was proposed but ultimately failed last year would have, according to studies, brought in $700 million to be split between the state’s general fund and the education trust fund.

Faulkner said there is a substantial amount of influence on legislators, particularly in the state Senate, from casino owners and operators, who fear losing revenue to a lottery. While he is against a lottery personally, Faulkner said he has heard from many people who want to be able to vote on the issue. Faulkner later added the proposed bills last year would not have given Alabama the same lottery system as the neighboring state of Georgia, which uses lottery funds to provide scholarships for high school students.

Roberts said lotteries hurt the “least of these.”

“I think it hurts the least of these the most,” Roberts said. “It’s the least of these that are money that’s not going to help them. I think you’re selling hope $2 at a time. I don’t want to continue to sell hope $2 at a time. I want parents to read books to kids.”

Following Governor Kay Ivey’s decision to propose delaying the retention component of the Alabama Literacy Act by one year, meaning third-grade students who do not meet set reading benchmarks on state assessments will not be held back after this year, the legislators mostly spoke in favor of the delay after being asked if they would support fully funding reading interventionists through the state budget, which now partially covers those positions.

“The intent of this bill when we passed it is not to hold children back,” Faulkner said. “The intent of the bill is to make sure that we get kids to a third-grade reading level by the time they finish third grade.”

State Rep. Jim Carns said he voted to not allow the delay previously. 

“Sooner or later, you’ve got to draw the line,” Carns said.

Only Wheeler answered the original question about funding reading interventionists, saying he would support fully funding them.

Another representative asked the legislators if they expected a raise for teachers in the upcoming legislative session, with Roberts taking the lead. He said following the raises given in recent years, he does expect there to be teacher raises in 2022, though he did not specify an amount. Teacher raises would also likely have to be joined by raises to all state employees, he said.

Asked about fully funding school nurses, Roberts said the state recently increased nurse funding by $6.6 million, and while not opposed to fully funding school nurses, to fund them at $100,000 per nurse would cost an additional $147 million.

Faulkner said he knows the program is working well, and the legislature would love to have nurses in every school, but, like Roberts, said it comes down to the money.

Following the introduction of bills aimed to help charter schools receive local tax dollars in recent years, though none successfully, a representative asked the legislators to share their thoughts on whether that would come up again next year and if they would support it.

“Charter schools are public schools,” Faulkner said. “We have two great systems here. … But for the kids in different parts of our state that for whatever reason may feel they’re not thriving, they’re not growing in the school they’re in, charter schools gives them an option to go to.”

The question, Faulkner said, is how those schools are funded, and whether local revenues should follow the child or go toward the local public school system.

Carns, Faulkner and Roberts all agreed that it is a priority to continue to maintain small class sizes, especially at the middle school level.

“Yes, that’s a priority, and we continue to work toward that goal,” Roberts said.

Waggoner said the legislators “probably represent” the two best school systems in Alabama.

“The people in these two communities are blessed,” Waggoner said. “All over Alabama we have the opportunity to visit school systems and the people in these two school systems are blessed. When we go to Montgomery, we are proud to represent Vestavia and Mountain Brook.”