Riley proposes $500 million bond issue for Alabama schools

Republican Gov. Bob Riley's education platform, unveiled Wednesday, proposes a $500 million school construction bond issue that legislators defeated in the last session out of concern it could become an election-year football.

"We're going to bring it back," Riley told an outdoor campaign rally in west Mobile, across the highway from Griggs Elementary School.

He said because of the Legislature's defeat of the bond issue, the school construction program was delayed by two years. "Two years is too long," Riley said.

Riley said he will reintroduce it in March, but a top Senate Democrat said he will be pushing for a bond issue of at least $1 billion.

Riley faces Democratic Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley in the Nov. 7 general election.

Reacting to Riley's plan, Baxley said Riley "talked a lot about education in Alabama during his campaign in 2002" but failed to deliver. In a statement, she said if Riley "believes that all is well in classrooms across Alabama he hasn't been in one."

Baxley contends that teachers "still have to ask parents for basic supplies like toilet paper and Windex. We couldn't trust Riley to keep his word then, and we certainly can't trust him now."

Riley said the bond issue will build new schools and renovate older classrooms. The money will go to the schools without regard to politics, he said.

It will allow the state to "finally be able to put the kind of technology we need in every classroom," he said.

Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, said the next school bond issue could be a minimum $1 billion.

"We really think we can afford $1.5 billion," Barron said Wednesday in a telephone interview, reacting to Riley's comments. "We'll be pushing at least $1 billion. We have enough commitments in order to pass that."

Riley said the state's thriving economy with a projected 4 percent revenue growth rate will allow not only the bond issue, but $50 million over the next four years in bonuses for top-performing schools and teachers. A day earlier, Riley said growth in the economy would offset any revenue lost under his proposed tax cut for workers, retirees and businesses, the price of which wasn't immediately given.

The $50 million bonus over four years would be an increase over the $2.5 million in bonuses last year, he said.

"We're going to continue to get as much money into education and teacher salaries as we possibly can," Riley told reporters when asked about possible teacher pay raises. He did not give any exact amount.

Riley said he hopes there's no opposition to giving teachers incentive pay. The state teachers' union has pushed for across-the-board teacher pay raises, generally opposing plans to select certain teachers for merit raises or bonuses.

"There is not another segment of our society that doesn't reward hard work or excellence," Riley said. "Why wouldn't you give them a bonus?"

Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, said, "If you can figure out a way to be fair with incentive pay, that's one thing. But the devil is in the details."

Hubbert called Riley's spending and tax proposals "a great big dose of Washington Beltline economics." He said in Washington, D.C., they decide programs to be funded and raise the debt limit to go borrow the money.

He said the Alabama Constitution prohibits the Legislature and the governor from spending more money than comes in.

Hubbert said the "slightest turn down" in Alabama's economy could send the education budget into proration. And he said Riley hasn't explained how much his proposed tax cuts will cost.

The governor said he also favors giving teachers legal liability protection against lawsuits. Currently that protection is provided by the Alabama Education Association, the teachers' union, rather than the state.

"We have an opportunity to do something fundamentally great in education," Riley said, outlining a series of proposals, including expansion of existing efforts, such as the Alabama Reading Initiative and the use of video technology to provide instruction through what is called distance learning.

He proposes putting a distance learning lab in every high school so teachers in front of a camera can teach students statewide.

Riley's plan also would seek to boost graduation rates by directing remediation, tutoring and mentoring programs for at-risk students.

For disruptive students, Riley said he favors taking away their drivers license. He said he will enforce the state law that requires students who drop out of school to lose their drivers license until they are 19 years old.

On higher education, Riley said he supports a "major investment" in higher education and research as a foundation for economic development.

"For the last two years, we have fully funded higher ed. We're going to continue to do that and we're going to continue to make strategic comprehensive investments in programs like the Cancer Center at the University of South Alabama," Riley said.

Riley discussed the economic part of his "Plan 2010" at a news conference in Birmingham on Tuesday and will release the third part of his platform on ethics, environment and other issues Thursday in Huntsville.

Riley said he would discuss other details of his education plan Friday in Montgomery.