The front page headline of the May 12, 2008 Alabama School Journal (the official publication of the Alabama Education Association [AEA]) reads: "Don't kill the budget. For $25 million from a cash-strapped budget, higher ed is willing to pink slip hundred of teachers and hurt schools." A cartoon in the article shows a large mean-looking man identified as higher education shaking his fist at small K-12 school children. "Please, give me a break." As one of the most powerful teacher unions in the country, and certainly the most influential lobbying organization in the state of Alabama, AEA can give thumbs up or thumbs down to the budget any time it wants. The humble request to reduce the massive cuts to four-year colleges and universities could be granted at any time by the AEA lobbying team. Even if four-year colleges and universities are successful in reducing their cuts by $25 million, decreases will still be more than 9 percent. K-12 and the two-year colleges are experiencing 3.8 and 4.2 percent decreases respectively.

The Legislature returns Monday, May 19 for its last day. The budget will be debated at that time. Don't be fooled into thinking that our request is unreasonable - $25 million is less than four tenths of one percent of the entire $6.4 billion budget.