Lawmakers discuss education issues with local PTO members

Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook parents have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to their school systems, but that didn't stop them from asking some of Alabama's lawmakers a few difficult questions.

Members of both school systems' PTOs met Thursday morning with four state legislators at Vestavia Hills City Hall to discuss the legislative session coming in February, as well as some major items that came up in the last session.

Rep. David Faulkner, R-D46, Sen. Slade Blackwell, R-D15, Rep. Jim Carns, R-D48 and Rep. Jack Williams, R-D47, were on hand to answer questions from parents.

Vestavia Hills Superintendent Sheila Phillips and Mountain Brook Superintendent Dicky Barlow started off the meeting by thanking the representatives for attendance. 

"This is so needed," Phillips said. "thank you for being here."

Barlow expressed his gratitude, but also reminded the representatives that he wasn't about to hold any punches when it comes to asking the hard questions and making sure that area students get the best support from their government.

"In education, we do feel like we've been the whipping boy the last few years," Barlow said, referencing attempts to redirect funds and comments made by Governor Robert Bentley.

However, Barlow said he thinks that the disagreements have opened up new lines of communication between schools and the legislature, and he hopes that will continue.

Questions to the representatives ranged from specifics about merit-based pay for teachers to more broad topics such as to how the budgeting issues in Montgomery may affect schools.

"The biggest thing we do as a state is education," Faulkner said.

He said that more than anything, he is worried about the budget, particularly the push by some legislators to reduce the amount of funding to school systems that are highly-funded locally, such as Vestavia and Mountain Brook.

He said that some argue that because locally-funded school systems have the support of their own communities, they don't need state funds, and he strongly disagrees.

"That's the wrong way to look at this, in my opinion," he said.

Williams echoed Faulkner's points, and added that he thinks that the state should be focusing on figuring out how to have other communities support their school systems the way Mountain Brook and Vestavia do.

"In the over-the-mountain communities, we go way beyond," he said, and said that he thinks other communities that are suggesting taking away funds should try to emulate.

All four legislators indicated that with regard to evaluating schools and teachers, as well as with curriculum, that they think major decisions should be made locally, not at the state level by the legislature.

Williams, Blackwell and Carns said that they haven't heard of any upcoming bills aimed at repealing Common Core, but said that they were skeptical that should one come up, that it would go anywhere in the upcoming session.

In response to a question about the recent school "grading" decision, which would assign an A-F grade to schools based on test performance, most of the legislators were against it.

Williams said it highlights a major problem with top-down laws with education.

"We don't teach kids to think, we teach them how to take standardized tests," he said, and added that he thinks that mindset is a major problem and setback for schools and teachers.

Faulkner said he recognized that those in high-performing school systems may not see the issue as a major threat, but understands how parents in other parts of the state are frustrated, and that the legislature recognizes that parents want some form of accountability.

In closing, the legislators reminded the parents that they want to focus on the local superintendents and teachers as the experts, but that they would fight against anything they felt would harm their districts' students.