By Gary Lloyd
JEFFERSON COUNTY — The Jefferson County Board of Education last week voted unanimously to adopt a resolution for Alabama Constitutional Amendment 4.
The amendment on the full ballot summary reads as follows:
“Amendment 4 would increase the requirement to a two-third vote (over 66 percent) rather than a simple majority (over 50 percent) of the Alabama Legislature in order to pass a law that would require local boards of education to cumulatively spend over $50,000 in local funds without providing the funds to pay for the increased expense. Separately, Amendment 4 would continue to provide that a majority would be required for unfunded mandates that address the compensation, benefits, or due process rights of any employee of a board of education.”
With resources getting scarcer and the loss of state funding increasing over the last three years, the board is seeking to join other local governmental entities that have been protected from unfunded mandates since 1998.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.