Budget merge is an attack on education - Darrio Melton, Selma Times Journal

One way our budgets show our priorities is simply the way they are structured. Alabama has two budgets: the General Fund budget and the Education Trust Fund budget. This allows us to appropriate resources separately–for non-education interests and for education-specific interests. Until now. A group of Alabama lawmakers are tossing around the idea of combining the two budgets, making the dollars set aside for education fluid with the rest of the state general fund. I just can’t support such a blatant attack on public education. This would be like attaching a debit card to your child’s college fund, then handing it over to your sixteen-year-old because he or she “promised” to be responsible and only use it for emergencies. Nickel by dime, that fund would deplete and the child left without a future. http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2014/08/18/budget-merge-is-an-attack-on-education/