Amendment to strike some racist language from Constitution instead reaffirms racist provision that children have no right to an education.
Amendment 4 says it will remove racist language in the state Constitution that requires schools to be segregated. What the ballot language does not say is Amendment 4 will actually reaffirm some of the most racist and sad parts of the state Constitution at the same time.
If you vote yes on Amendment 4, you will be voting to affirm this statement: “...nothing in this Constitution shall be construed as creating or recognizing any right to education or training at the public expense.” Voting yes on Amendment 4 has the perverse outcome of affirming Alabama children do not have the right to an education.
To understand how we got to this backward place where an amendment says one thing and does another, you need to know a little history and how the Statehouse works.
In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation in education was unconstitutional in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education. In response the following year, the Alabama Legislature and voters approved Amendment 111 to the state Constitution.
There are three paragraphs in Amendment 111. The first eliminated the long-standing right to an education, the second facilitated the founding of private segregation academies, and the third demanded segregation of students. The thinking went if Alabama was forced to integrate, then the state would abolish the public school system as it existed then.
Amendment 111 was found to violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by the Supreme Court and was never implemented. It has been sitting there in the state Constitution as an empty relic of racial strife and discrimination.
Back in 2004, a measure went before voters to eliminate the three paragraphs of Amendment 111. But after Judge Roy Moore and other conspiracy theorists wrongly said it was a back door attempt at raising taxes through the courts, it went down in a narrow defeat.
The taxation issue lacks any merit. The judiciary does not control taxes or set budgets, and the state Supreme Court has stated it would never try and do so.
Because of how the amendment is worded, voting yes would mean voters reaffirming the segregationist language while at the same time deleting from the constitution a child’s right to a public education.
AEA knows Alabama children must have the right to a public education. So do the vast majority of Alabamians. A recent statewide poll by the Capitol Survey Research Center shows 92 percent believe children should have the right to an education at public expense.
It is only common sense – children need to go to school and our state will rise or fall on how well we educate our young people.
Educators and their family members should vote NO on Amendment 4.