Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
State Representatives Jerry Starnes, Kelvin Lawrence, Van Smtih and Senator Clyde Chambliss spoke to the public about this last legislative session and their wins as well as struggles at the Legislative Wrap-Up Breakfast hosted by the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The breakfast was moderated by the president of JF Ingram State Technical College and an officer for the Workforce and Governmental Affairs, Annette Funderburk.
Across the board, gambling was a big frustration this past session as well as funding for education.
“We work together extremely well and that is not always the case in different areas across the state, but that doesn’t mean that we always agree, and we’re not always supposed to agree. We’re supposed to have our own opinions for our own constituents. Although our districts overlap, they’re not the same,” Chambliss said.
All three state representatives and Senator Chambliss agreed that this was one of the hardest sessions, where even seasoned representatives acknowledged that it was a challenging.
Another big topic of discussion was the discussion on school choice and the funding schools will receive due to the choice parents make. It seemed all were in agreement that their goal is to protect the schools of the families of their constituents.
“I think school choice will be good for our school systems, and I think that it will open doors for the things to happen, and further opportunities for our students,” Starns said.
But Smith and Lawrence noted how some students may not have a choice of school and how this bill could be shuffling money from one school to another.
“I’ve always been a person who wants to protect our school systems and our small schools that possibly would not have the opportunity to move. However, when you really get out into a great portion of our state, we have students who don’t have a choice. I couldn’t move to a point to support this bill,” Smith said.
Regarding the seven mills ad valorem tax that will be on the Autauga County ballots this November, Chambliss noted the importance of an educated work force, and how an educated work force starts with public schools. All were in agreement that they want to find innovative ways to fund education.
The gambling bill was a hot topic of discussion Thursday morning where it seemed most were also in agreement of bringing the monopoly on gambling down.
“There was a lot of moving parts to the session. I truly think the people of Alabama want the lottery. My issue with that is if we’re going to do it, we need to open up control where we can have some other entities to take part in it and be able to do this business. I hate to see that it didn’t pass, but I think we need to kill that monopoly,” Lawrence said.
“I think it would be good for our school system. I think that it opens the doors for the things to happen,” Starns said.
In attendance were multiple members of the Autauga County School Board, Superintendent Lyman Woodfin, numerous members of the Prattville City Council, Mayor Bill Gillespie and members of the Autauga County Commission.
