Sorry for the delay in posting a summary of the Birmingham Area meeting in Gardendale on Oct. 26th. It has been a very hectic 2 weeks with the organization of the B'ham Area caravan and PACT Board meeting coming on the heels of the B'ham Area meeting.
In the business part of the meeting we encouraged all PACT contract owners to be active in making Legislative and Education contacts:
- B'ham Area legislators who hold a seat on State Education Committees have been identified. We are taking volunteers to be assigned as one-on-one contact with these area legislators. The contact will establish regular contact with the legislator to develop an on-going dialog to discuss legislation for PACT. If you have an interest in volunteering to be a legislative contact, please contact Karen Gandy at karengandy@savealabamapact.com
- All contracts owners were encouraged make frequent contact with all legislators on the Education Committees. The committee members can be found on the front page of the Save Alabama PACT website, select "Education Committee Contact Information".
- Teachers with PACT contracts make contact with AEA and Paul Hubbert to let them know about your concerns for the PACT. Save Alabama PACT wants to work together with State education organizations.
- Write letters to legislators in the B'ham Area. www.legislature.state.al.us
The caravan organization was discussed.
Guests and speakers included:
Mark Harrison - Associate Pastor Gardendale First Baptist Church, gave opening prayer
Mayor Othell Phillips - Mayor of Gardendale, presented the speakers and legislators in attendance
George Wallace Jr. - candidate for Treasurer (speaker)
Jeremy Sherer - candidate for Treasurer (speaker)
Charles Grimsley - candidate for Treasurer (speaker)
Sen. Scott Beason - Dist. 17 (speaker)
Rep. Robert Bentley - Dist. 63 (speaker)
Rep. Owen Drake - Dist. 45
Rep. Patricia Todd - Dist. 54
Rep. Pat Moore - Dist. 15
Rep. Allen Treadaway - Dist. 51
Sen. Linda Coleman - Dist. 20
Rep. Bentley is drafting legislation to address the PACT problem. Rep. Bentley and Sen. Beason worked together on PACT legislation during the last legislative session. Both acknowledged that it is important that legislation be passed to stablize the PACT during this next session. Sen. Beason suggested that a source of funding for the cash infusion needed for the PACT program come from stopping the practice of out of state students who live within a 50 mi. radius of the AL state line paying in-state tuition. These students instead pay full out of state tuition.
Sen. Coleman spoke during the question and answer session. She said that no one legislator spoke for the black caucus and refuted the statement made by some legislators representing districts with predominately African-American constituents that this was not an issue for their districts because none of their constituents owned PACT contracts. She said she knew this was not true for her district. She has heard from her constituents and they do own contracts.
If you have further questions about the meeting, please contact Karen Gandy. Thank you.