Official urges voters to raise millage rate

SHEFFIELD -- The head of the Alabama Association of School Boards had two words for her audience Monday night regarding Amendment 2 on the Nov. 7 election ballot: Vote yes.

Statewide Amendment No. 2 asks voters to consider raising the ad valorem millage rate for 30 of the state's 132 public school systems. The 30 systems do not meet a minimum of 10 mills of local tax support for schools.

Sandra Sims-deGraffenried, the AASB's executive director, said those 30 schools use local taxes to make up the difference from not collecting 10 mills. She addressed a meeting of school board members from the 18 systems in District 8.

All Shoals area school districts are included in District 8. Among them, Lawrence County is the only one with fewer than 10 mills in ad valorem tax support for its schools.

One mill is equal to 10 cents on every $100 of taxable property.

Lawrence County has nine mills and pulls another one mill equivalent from sales tax.

In order to receive state funding for schools, each district must produce the 10-mill minimum.

Districts having to make up the difference struggle to do so, especially if they are depending on sales tax revenues in a poor economy.

Sims-deGraffenried said no system in the state has less than seven mills. Still, the strain on districts with less than 10 can be remedied by voting in favor of the amendment that requires every school district in the state to levy at least 10-mills of local property tax to support local schools, she said.

"Preliminary polls show the amendment's passage looks promising, but you as board members have got to do your part," she said and urged them to inform their communities of the need for the additional one mill in property tax.

"If you live in one of the 101 systems that currently collect 10 mills or more, you won't be affected," she said. "If you live in one of the 30 districts that don't, please do your part to inform the public."

Sims-deGraffenried also appealed to the 84 school board members in attendance to take a stand against a movement to impose a mandatory uniform school start date in Alabama.

She said school systems cannot have later starting dates, allow for student breaks as they do now, and still maintain the 180 days of instruction required by the state.

"It's impossible, and it isn't being pushed by education advocates but by tourism industries that want to prolong their summer season," she said.

She said she understands that teachers would like to see a later start date for schools. She drew laughs and light-hearted applause from the audience when she said teachers would prefer to start back to school after Labor Day, have a fall break, three days off at Thanksgiving and at least two weeks at Christmas, a spring break and still get out of school before Memorial Day.

"It won't work," she said of a uniform starting date. "Schools should be about student achievement and local control."

Lisa Singleton-Rickman is a staff writer for the TimesDaily. She can be reached at 740-5735 or lisa.singleton-rickman@timesdaily.com.