B’ham Schools Submit State-Mandated Plan
State schools chief Tommy Bice (center right), Birmingham Mayor William Bell (lower left) and other area leaders look on with concern at a contentious April 2012 board meeting that helped trigger state intervention.
The Birmingham School system today submitted a detailed cost-cutting plan, fulfilling the first part of a
state-mandated deadline.
Though sources said compiling the latest plan, which includes significant administrative staff cuts, was
intensely difficult, an even bigger challenge may await. The local school board — which has been plagued
by infighting on issues far less complicated and emotional than discharging staff — must approve at least
part of the cost-cutting plan at its meeting on Tuesday. If not, the Alabama State Department of
Education will likely take control of the district’s finances.
Deputy State Superintendent Craig Pouncey said Birmingham Superintendent Craig Witherspoon has
been in direct communication with the local board in preparation for Tuesday’s vote. School officials
would not share names on the latest iteration of the cost-cutting plan, at least before Tuesday’s
meeting, which Dr. Ed Richardson will attend. Richardson is the leader of the team investigating
Birmingham schools since April.
Pouncey and other sources said the local board will likely receive a two-part proposal. The one to be
voted on Tuesday includes various cost-cutting measures; the one to be voted on the following week
will include the exact positions to be eliminated from the central office. Complicated contractual and
tenure requirements are one reason for the slower timeline for the second part of the plan.
United Nations leaders bemoan global turmoil as the General Assembly turns 80
On Saturday, the UNGA celebrated its 80th birthday in London. Speakers including U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres addressed global uncertainty during the second term of President Trump.
Parts of Florida receive rare snowfall as freezing temperatures linger
Snow has fallen in Florida for the second year in a row.
European leaders warn Trump’s Greenland tariffs threaten ‘dangerous downward spiral’
In a joint statement, leaders of eight countries said they stand in "full solidarity" with Denmark and Greenland. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen added: "Europe will not be blackmailed."
Syrian government announces a ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
Syria's new leaders, since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country.
U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota
The move comes after President Trump again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to control ongoing protests over the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.
Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream … about health care
A doctor from Nigeria tells what Martin Luther King Jr. taught him about health, Justice and inequality.
