By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – A House Committee has approved a bond issue of more than one (b) billion dollars that would provide funds for construction in every public school district in the state.
The bond issue would be the largest school construction spending program in the state's history. It would also provide funds for building projects at every public four-year and two-year college in the state.
It would also provide 13 million dollars for school systems that have lost school buildings to fires, storms or other catastrophes in recent years. The proposed bond issue includes 15 (m) million dollars in additional funds for schools in Alabama's financially struggling Black Belt.
The House Education Appropriations Committee approved the bond issue Tuesday on a voice vote. It would be the first bond issue for education construction in Alabama since 1998.
But the bond issue could be in jeopardy because of a session-long fight over rules in the Senate and a dispute over how much money U-A-B should receive in the bond issue for a cancer research center.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)