Birmingham, Alabama’s school system is now free of state control. The state had taken over after financial mismanagement, corruption, and fighting among local board members so intense it sometimes got physical. Voters have since elected a very different school board. And now, Birmingham’s schools are independent again.
Alabama’s school board voted unanimously Thursday to release Birmingham’s 24,000 student system from state control. In 2012, after some local board members publicly begged for help, the state stepped in, citing among other things the system’s illegally low four-day cash reserve. Other board members fought the takeover in the public eye and in court but lost. Since then, staff have been cut, school zones realigned, and the system has well more than the required one-month operating reserves.
Alabama State Superintendent Tommy Bice calls it a “success story” and the “most aggressive intervention” his department has ever done.