As the author Emily McKay providentially said, “when you’re lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle, you put the lid on as fast as you can.” The Legislature caught proverbial lightning in a bottle with the passage of the Alabama Credential Quality and Transparency Act (Act 2023-365) sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins and championed […]

When Governor Kay Ivey vetoed SB 94 on Thursday, May 27, she sent a clear signal of her commitment to our children’s long-term success. If SB94 became law, it would have prematurely stalled the momentum Governor Ivey and Superintendent Mackey have achieved in implementing the Alabama Literacy Act. The third grade promotion policy is only […]

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on education are unparalleled in American history. Projected learning loss, particularly for our most at-risk students, may be irreversible if we do not maximize the utility of each dollar Alabama receives for the pandemic recovery. Alabama’s students are already near last on the National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP), […]

Recruiting, training and empowering a highly skilled workforce driven by business and industry needs is giving Alabama a competitive edge for economic growth. We see the results of this sound strategy throughout the state. As Governor Kay Ivey recently announced, Alabama’s economic development activity in 2020 generated approximately $5 billion in new investments and nearly […]

If you lost your job and are looking for work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, you are certainly not alone. Here in Alabama, while our economy is recovering, nearly 800,000 Alabamians have filed an initial unemployment claim since March. The pandemic hurt the economy across the board, though workers in public-facing industries were hit especially […]

The human toll of COVID-19 is unprecedented in Alabama, and businesses of all sizes have taken a shellacking due to the pandemic. As such, our tactical focus for workforce development has transitioned from filling positions in the tight labor market we enjoyed in February to pandemic response, incumbent worker training and dislocated worker training today. […]