Dale Jackson: Amendment One failed; Now some legislators will fail to expand the summer

After the Alabama legislature’s failed attempt to overthrow the Alabama Board of Education, they were right by the way, you would think some of the members would go back to the drawing board and rethink some of their ideas on education.

You’d be wrong.

State Representative Steve Hurst (R-Munford) is still attempting to push forward with a bill that makes no sense educationally and is even dubious in its proposed intent. Hurst’s plan is to extend the summers to a state-mandated 11 weeks, which would either lead to shorter Thanksgiving/Christmas breaks, the end of Fall Break for schools that have that or longer school days.

Will kids go to school until 5:40 p.m. as some have suggested? No.

Will kids go to school on the days after Thanksgiving/Christmas? No.

But those absurd notions aside, who is asking for this?

Not teachers. Not school superintendents. Not local boards of education. Not kids, because they are kids and have no idea what is going on.

Hurst says 85% of voters want longer summers, although you would have a hard time identifying these people. Reaction online, which is not real life, is overwhelmingly negative.

This seems to be driven by tourism and the interests of various camps that could benefit from longer summers, which Hurst acknowledges.

But what about the real purpose of a state-run education system? Educating. And, as a whole, Alabama is not good at this.

Many studies have shown that the long, and unnecessary, summer breaks create a “brain drain” that harms students. Expanding that break only hurts children more. There are many kids who aren’t doing family vacations or summer camps and would benefit from staying engaged in the educational process more regularly.

Proposed year-round schedules leave plenty of time for vacations and other opportunities.

Is this idea popular? No, it is not.

But legislators just floated a measure that would have taken away the elected Board of Education, and that went down hard.

The voters don’t always know best, this is obvious, but if legislators are going to float ideas about education, they should at least argue them from the position that it will help improve the state of Alabama’s education system for the students.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.