The Alabama Education Association always gets what it wants.
Even when it looks like it has lost, the AEA will eventually win.
During the last regular legislative session, the AEA declared victory with the delay of the third grade retention requirement of the Alabama Literacy Act.
AEA is still at work fighting and winning for Alabama students and schools tonight! The 3rd grade retention requirement of the Literacy Act has been delayed by the legislature until the 2023-2024 school year! The bill now moves to the governor's desk for signature. #myAEA pic.twitter.com/nbaCYoU9TA
— Alabama Education Association (@myAEA) May 18, 2021
Governor Kay Ivey struck the AEA down with a thunderous veto and said, “[E]arly literacy is a gateway to all learning.”
But the AEA shall rise again, as Ivey has changed her mind.
After the #ALBOE meeting, @GovernorKayIvey said she supports the one-year delay in the promotion/retention provision of the Alabama Literacy Act because we need another year of test data.
— Trisha Powell Crain (@Trish_Crain) November 10, 2021
Test data?
Let me help — the kids can’t read.
To put this simply, Alabama’s students who can’t read at a third grade level will be promoted to the fourth grade, where they will continue to fail and fall further behind.
Will the legislature go along with this?
They have in the past.
Have we not been watching parents who are angry about their children’s education? Does Virginia ring a bell? Does that not apply here?
Will candidates against these legislators make the fact that the governor and some in the legislature are OK with third graders not being able to read for another year?
Might their opponents argue they will keep kicking the can down the road?
This will be framed as a pandemic issue, which is silly.
The issue is that Alabama’s third graders can’t read. This is not new.
Did the pandemic make it worse? Undoubtedly.
But the argument for the Literacy Act in the first place was pretty simple, and it remains the same today as it was years ago.
They should let the Literacy Act go into effect as scheduled.
Simply put, sending kids who can’t read on their way is a bad idea. It sets them up for failure and leads to bad outcomes.
Now that the governor has signalled her willingness to delay the Alabama Literacy Act, legislators will probably pass another delay early next year and everyone will claim victory.
The legislature, the governor and the AEA will declare joint victory.
The kids who can’t read?
Meh, we will get to them in a year.
They can’t vote anyway.
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9 AM weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10AM to noon.
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