By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Alabama legislators are facing a possible fight over a bill that would require the rules and policies of the Alabama Board of Education concerning the state's two-year colleges to be reviewed by a legislative committee.
Opponents of the bill see it as an attempt by the Legislature to take control of the state school board and reverse policies passed last year that ended so-called double dipping by state lawmakers. The opponents include Governor Riley and two-year college chancellor Bradley Byrne.
Supporters of the bill include Senate Majority Leader Sen. Zeb Little of Cullman and Alabama Education Association head Paul Hubbert. Little is the bill's sponsor.
Little and Hubbert say the bill provides for oversight for a state school board that allowed corruption to flourish throughout the two-year college system.
The bill requires that the two-year-college system fall under the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act. That act requires a legislative committee known as the Legislative Council to approve agency rules and policies.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)