Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Autauga County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday evening to bring a $7 million increase in ad valorem taxes to Autauga County, which could be seen on ballots for voters as soon as this November.
“I’ve stated numerous times that I have serious concerns about our financial stability as a district once we are not able to count on the ESSER funds,” Superintendent of Autauga County Schools Lyman Woodfin said.
Woodfin went on to quote a third party financial advisor that Woodfin confirmed he appointed shortly after also being appointed superintendent. Rice Advisory, a financial planning company in Montgomery stated, “in order to increase the operating efficiency of the system, either revenues need to be generated or expenses need to be cut. A growth in revenue would include an increase in ad valorem taxes and a cut in expenses might include but not limited to a decrease in existing services offered, layoffs and possibly closing a school,” Woodfin said quoting Rice Advisory.
The Board unanimously approved the resolution of a $7 million increase in ad valorem taxes which would be paid via property taxes. The tax would be county wide but first needs legislative approval and amendments before it can be seen before voters, Autauga County Schools Communications Coordinator Rebecca Thomas confirmed.
April is the month of the military child, which is signified with the color purple. Dr. Rachel Surles, a former Autauga County Schools director of Federal Programs, Assessment & Accountability, is now spearheading a different mission for the Military Child Education Coalition.
The Prattville JROTC presented the colors for Tuesday evening meeting and the PIS S2S group led the pledge of allegiance while wearing purple to commemorate the month of the military child.
Throughout the month, it brings to light not only the struggles of military-connected children, but the Month of the Military Child also highlights the diversity, challenges and strong aspects these children carry with them every day.
“This is such an easy thing to get excited about, and I want to thank our teachers as they go above and beyond every day. My 30 years is done but I’m not through continuing to celebrate our educators and military connected children,” Surles said.
Surles stated that there are over 32 languages spoken in Autauga County alone, and on average a military-connected child moves 6-9 different times within their K-12 career.
“I thought this was an exaggeration, until I had been asking children this for years. Wrapping my brain around that was so difficult. The thought is, when you put together all the colors of the military, the blues, the greens, the reds, and when you mix them together, you get purple,” Surles said.
Duwan Walker, a former UAB defensive coordinator founded Hi.Ed., a hyper individualized education web based platform that connects right into powerschool, to make the transition for high school students into the “real” world much more smoothly.
Walker founded Hi.Ed., and last year Marbury High School served as the pilot school using the system within Autauga County Schools. Walker presented the results to the Board Tuesday Evening.
“The software does a number of things for students and schools, an academic component tracks graduation requirements and tracks them finishing their core courses. It also tracks college admissions, and color codes for students in the different benchmarks that they’ve met. It also shows minimum academic scholarship opportunities, for all colleges and universities in Alabama. It also tracks NCAA eligibility for division one and two,” Walker said.
Through this program, all six branches of the military as well as local partners through the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce have come in to give presentations.
After the presentation component students can respond on the app with emojis for what they might be interested in after graduation. The best part, all of the current partners that gave presentations are direct hire opportunities after graduation.
“There’s a lot of different career clusters that give our students the opportunity to transition into different areas after graduation,” Walker said.
Prattville High School Principal Dr. Daniel Farris also recognized Caden Walker for his Oratiorical Contest winnings through the American Legion, a speech contest on the U.S. Constitution. The Legion awards over $200,000 in scholarships nationwide.
Caden competed at the division, region and state level winning first place in all three classes.
Caden will then go on to compete in Michigan where he will compete against the best delegates across the U.S. this May.
“Caden is a part of a wide array of extracurricular activities such as Beta Club, Television Production, Youth Leadership of Autauga County and many more. He’s an exceptional student here at Prattville and has been a part of the Prattville Band Program since 7th grade serving as drum major his junior and senior year. Prattville High School is very proud of your accomplishments and how you lead by example,” Farris said.
