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By Bob Johnson
The Associated Press
January 24, 2002

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The State Board of Education voted Thursday to call for a new Constitution and to endorse legislation to give local governments more control over local schools.

   Gov. Don Siegelman urged the board to pass the resolution that endorses the governor's plan to ask Alabama residents to vote in November on whether they want to call a convention to rewrite Alabama's 1901 Constitution.

   Bills calling for a vote of the people during the Nov. 5 general election on calling a constitutional convention were being introduced Thursday in the House and Senate.

   "If we in this state expect to fund schools the way they need to be funded, we have to make a break from the 1901 constitution," Siegelman said. School board member Bradley Byrne of Mobile said a convention is the best way to rewrite the 100-year-old constitution, that has been amended more than 660 times. He said he has supported a new constitution since he was a law student at the University of Alabama in 1979.

   "I have been waiting for the Legislature to act since that time," Byrne said.

   "After 23 years I am convinced the Legislature is not going to pass it. The people in my district want an opportunity to vote on a new constitution."

   School board vice president Ethel Hall of Birmingham said a new constitution is the only way to change Alabama's tax system so that the state's schools won't have to face continuing budget crises.

   "We have to have some relief and the way to do that is not to continue to amend the constitution."

   Stephanie Bell of Montgomery was the only board member to vote against the resolution. She said she was concerned that board members had not discussed the resolution in advance. She said she also did not want to give a blanket endorsement of constitutional reform when there are varying proposals circulating in the Legislature.

   Critics of the governor's approach have said a new constiution could be a cover for raising taxes and that a convention could be packed with supporters of certain special interests.

   The school board also voted to distribute the resolution to principals, teachers and students across the state. Siegelman said he would pay for the expense of doing that from his office's contingency fund.

   Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, said he was introducing the bill calling for a constitutional convention because he wants to give the people a chance to vote.

   "Let's put it on the ballot and see if the people choose this method for reforming the antiquated 1901 constitution," Black said.

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