When Alabamians vote on November 5, they will be asked to vote on one statewide amendment.
“Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, to grant certain sixteenth section and indemnity school lands that are owned in fee simple by the Franklin County School System, are located in Fayette County and Walker County, and are for the exclusive use of schools in the Franklin County School System to the Franklin County Board of Education; and to provide for the distribution of any proceeds and interest generated by this land.”
Proposed by Act No. 2024-301 (House Bill 302, 2024 Regular Legislative Session)
Bill Sponsor: Representative Kiel
This proposal seeks to amend the Constitution of Alabama of 2022 to address the management of a piece of land in Fayette and Walker Counties that is to benefit the Franklin County Board of Education.
Since this Amendment concerns land owned in two counties and a school board in a third county, it requires a statewide vote.
The land in question is designated to support public education and stems from an eighteenth-century practice where the federal government designated land in each county for the support of public education in that county. These designations predate Alabama’s statehood.
In the late nineteenth century, the Alabama Legislature gave some school boards, including Franklin County, additional land, sometimes outside their home county, to ensure each school board owned land of approximately equal value.
State law stipulates that such lands are held in trust by the Alabama State Department of Education and managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The Department is empowered to lease or sell the land, with revenue provided to the school system the land is designed to support.
Amendment 1 concerns land located in Fayette and Walker Counties that is to benefit the Franklin County Board of Education. The Board cannot independently manage the land and cannot sell the land without the approval of the State Superintendent of Education and the Governor.
Amendment 1, if approved, enables the Franklin County Board of Education to manage and sell the land without prior approval and retain all revenue.