Whitmire: Dying student gifts school band uniforms as Alabama sits on $2.2 billion for education

By Kyle Whitmire

Melody Jackson is an inspiration.

A student at Reeltown High School in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, she has something to teach about selflessness and common purpose.

You see, Jackson is terminally ill, dying from a fast-acting, rare form of cancer that has left her, doctors say, with days left to live. As happens, she was offered a wish from Make-a-Wish Alabama — a chance to do something fun, something that would make her happy.

She chose to do something good.

As my colleague Rebecca Griesbach reported this week, Jackson made her wish to buy band uniforms for her school.

That’s right. Not a trip to Disney World or a visit from some high-flying celebrity.

Band uniforms.

She gave her dying wish away to her fellow students to cover the cost of something that should be a basic school expense.

Jackson’s sacrifice is proof there is good left in the world.

But maybe not enough left in Montgomery.

At 16 years old, Jackson is an inspiration to do better, and Alabama lawmakers should take her lesson to heart.

You see, this isn’t a matter of Alabama being a poor state that can’t afford such things on its own. We could have. Instead, we — or our elected officials working on our behalf — chose not to.

Alabama had the money to buy band uniforms or pay many of the other extraneous expenses that come with running schools.

We just didn’t.

About this time last year, the Alabama Legislature met in Montgomery with a problem that doesn’t come along often in this state — we had extra money. In 2022, Alabama had collected more than it spent for education.

As it turned out, $2.8 billion more.

Practically salivating, all sorts of special interests began pushing for a place at the trough, and Gov. Kay Ivey was more than willing to accommodate some of her favorites.

There was the $25 million she proposed for a Montgomery water park.

And there was $100 million for prison construction — on top of more than a billion already allocated from the General Fund.

Altogether, Ivey proposed spending $300 million of education dollars on things that weren’t education.

Give Alabama lawmakers some credit. Once Ivey’s shopping list became public, they promptly tore it up and wrote one of their own. But instead of spending hundreds of millions on non-education expenses, they put money toward tax cuts.

With money left over, Alabama lawmakers approved a tax rebate — $150 for individuals and $300 for couples.

Yours might have shown up in the last month or two.

Was it worth it?

Because here’s the thing — if education were truly “fully funded” as we’re told, Jackson wouldn’t have to give her dying wish to her friends in the high school marching band.

She could have done something nice for herself.

We could have done something nice for her.

And there’s still time, if not for her, then for her friends and others like her in Alabama schools.

Once again, Alabama has taken in more taxes than it budgeted. When lawmakers meet next month, there will be $2.2 billion in excess education dollars to spend.

The special interests are already lining up for their cut.

If we don’t tell our lawmakers now that education dollars are for education, they’ll do the same thing again. Or worse, they’ll spend it on another prison.

Jackson’s story is heartwarming, yes, but it’s time to take that warmth and start a fire.

Under Kay Ivey.

And under the Alabama Legislature.

This post was originally published on this site