HUNTSVILLE, AL—
The talk of charter schools in Alabama is not new news. In fact, it's come up several times over the last couple of decades. The old conversation is now getting a new spin as it makes its way up to Washington, DC.
Governor Bob Riley will meet with the Secretary of Education on Wednesday to talk about getting charter schools here in Alabama.Governor Bob Riley wants to convince Education Secretary Artie Duncan to come to the state to talk to Alabamians to build a ground swell of support for charter schools.
It's been a touchy issue in Alabama for years. The governor says the main opponent to the public schools that operate under a written contract is the Alabama Education Association.
"If we can get the Alabama Education Association to back it, it would go through like that," said Governor Bob Riley.
Governor Riley believes the dynamic surrounding charter schools now is different from what it was 20 years ago.
He wants everyone involved in the decision-making process to put everything on the table.
"The only thing that I would ask everyone to do in the legislation is have an honest debate," added Governor Riley.
In Monday night's 2010 Gubernatorial Forum broadcasted on WHNT2, the majority of candidates for Alabama governor, shared where they stand on the issue. One of them could be your next governor leading the way on whether or not Alabama gets charter schools.
"I'm not opposed to charter schools. They're not going to solve our education problems here. We basically have charter schools around the state, and they are religious christian-based academies," said Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Johnson.
"I've said before that I am for charter schools, but let me take the time to tell you why. There's 220 million reasons why. We have $220M in federal dollars ready to be drawn down through the president's race to the top fund," said Gubernatorial Candidate Artur Davis.
"We need to have more accountability within our school system, and we can improve our education system with the structure we currently have," said Gubernatorial Candidate James Potts.
"I very definitely support charter schools. We talk about student learning, and high standards being a priority. Charter schools allow that," said Gubernatorial Candidate Kay Ivey.
The charter school chatter did not stop there.
"Statistically, if you look at charter schools across this country, they are no better than public schools except in a very minute number of instances," said Gubernatorial Candidate Dr. Robert Bentley.
"I will not support charter schools in Alabama. Why would I support a system that only has a 15% success rate," said Gubernatorial Candidate Ron Sparks.
"Charter schools are fine. We should take nothing off the table, but this discussion is a political discussion in an election year when you have a president borrowing money from China and Japan, while holding the carrot out there," said Gubernatorial Candidate Tim James.
"I'm for charter schools. I know that they work in many places throughout the country. They've worked in states around us. We ought to have it as an option for people in this state to turn to," said Gubernatorial Candidate Bradley Byrne.
More than 730,000 students attend schools in Alabama. Alabama is one of only 11 states in the country that do not allow charter schools. Governor Riley supports legislation that would let local boards of education have charter schools in their districts.
On Wednesday, Governor Riley will also be one of nine governors meeting with President Barack Obama. The governors will talk with the president about the country's long term energy needs.
