WK 8: $92M/Year For Math Coaches to Teach Common Core Passes Senate 24-3! + More

Legislative Week 8

Legislative Days 16-18 of 30

Bill: $92M/Year To Hire Math Coaches To Teach Common Core Passes Senate 24-3 And Is Headed To The House

Watch Our 2 Minute Clip about the Alabama Numeracy Act

The Alabama "Numeracy Act" (SB171) will cost taxpayers at least $92M/year for “math coaches” to continue to teach Alabama’s failed Common Core Math. Our 2 minute clip above proves that the bill does not get rid of the K-5 Common Core Math standards that are being used in Alabama now. The Numeracy Act also sets up a new bureaucracy, “The Elementary Mathematics Task Force”. It will be comprised of the many of the same people/organizations who are responsible for the implementation and continuation of Common Core which dropped Alabama from 26th in the nation in math to 52nd. The 17-member task force will control K-5 math in Alabama with no accountability.

SB171 passed the Senate with only 3 senators voting against it. See who they are in the clip above and learn what you can do to stop the bill. The bill has moved to the House and we have little time to stop it.

Bill Banning Harmful Transgender Interventions Passed Judiciary Committee Is Headed to Full House

SB184 Sen. Shelnutt HB266 Rep. Allen

BILL DESCRIPTION: This bill prohibits the use of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones or surgeries for the sole purpose of changing a healthy minor's gender until they are 19 years old. It also provides for disclosure of certain information concerning students to parents by schools.

BILL STATUS: On Wednesday, these identical bills passed out of the House Judiciary Committee. Since SB184 has passed the Senate, the House sponsor will use that bill on the House floor.

EF's POSITION: We support VCAP. It is one of EF's priority bills

URGENT ACTION: Please call these House Rules Committee members and the Speaker of the House and ask them to put SB184 "VCAP" on the House Calendar. Then call your House representative and ask him/her to vote YES on VCAP! See our VCAP talking points paper here.

Bill Authorizing K-12 Mental Health Coordinators Fails in Senate

SB51 Sen. Smitherman, HB123 Rep. Ledbetter, SB40 Smitherman

BILL DESCRIPTION: SB51 would establish and provide for the qualifications and duties of a mental health service coordinator and would require each local board of education in the state to employ a mental health service coordinator. SB40 is similar to SB51 only more comprehensive as it requires the development of the programs these mental health coordinators will be using.

BILL STATUS: On Tuesday, SB51 bill was voted down 10-16 in the full Senate and is dead for this session. However, the "companion bill" (almost identical bill) HB123 passed unanimously (102-0) in the House and is on its way to the Senate. It needs to be defeated! Unfortunately, SB40 passed the Senate 28-1 and is headed to the House.

EF's POSITION: We oppose SB51, and the House version HB123, SB40, and any other similar K-12 "mental health" bills. There is a move across the country to install mental health coordinators in all schools, but the programs they are promoting are rife with Critical Race Theory (CRT), "social justice", Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and other programs and concepts that go against parents' and family values. See how SEL became another vehicle for white racism in schools. Read Pioneer Institute's white paper on SEL. We will be sending more in-depth information on SEL and the programs used in Alabama under the guise of "mental health" in a future email alert.

Ban Critical Race Theory (CRT)

HB312 Rep Oliver + 37 Co-Sponsors

BILL DESCRIPTION: In a nutshell, this bill would ban the use/teaching of Critical Race Theory or its concepts in K-12 and in government agencies. See full description in our Week 7 Update.

BILL STATUS: HB312 is scheduled for a vote in the House State Government Committee on Wednesday, March 9th, at 3:00PM in room 206.

EF's POSITION: We strongly support this bill. See our brochure here about CRT and why it should be banned.

ACTION: Contact the House State Government Committee members today and ask them to support HB312 that bans CRT.

Porn Filters on Cell Phones/Tablets

HB43 Rep Sells

BILL DESCRIPTION: This bill simply requires certain cell phone manufactures to switch their explicit content (porn) filters to "on" on their cell phones and tablets.

BILL STATUS: There was a public hearing for HB43 on Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee. There is a vote scheduled for Wed., March 2nd at 1:30 in room 200.

EF's POSITION: We support this common sense bill. See the harms and statistics of pornography usage in the 2020 Senate Joint Resolution which Eagle Forum helped write and pass declaring "Pornography as a Public Health Crisis".

Gambling Bills Are Back!

Sen. Greg Albritton introduced his gambling bills. SB293 calls for voters in Alabama to approve a Constitutional Amendment (CA) that will allow Class III* gambling in Alabama. SB294 is the “enabling legislation” (that details how gambling expansion will be implemented). View bill details and commentary from ALCAP's Week 8 update.

EF's POSITION: We oppose all state-sponsored gambling bills.

BILLS WE'RE WATCHING BUT HAVEN'T MOVED THIS WEEK

HB191 Removes requirement for Public Notary for some end-of-life patients. We oppose this bill. See Week 4.
SB140/HB245 School Choice Bill. See Week 4.
HB170 Bans female genital mutilation. We support this bill. See Week 6.
HB160 Decriminalizes marijuana. We oppose this bill. See Week 6.
SB10 Bans online censorship. We support this bill. See Week 6.

Watch Committee Meetings

On Wednesday Online

One of the goals of Eagle Forum is to help you engage in important legislative issues. Below are links to the House and Senate committee meetings happening this week. Most are on Wednesday. Take a look at the list of bills that will be discussed in the committees and watch the ones that are of interest to you.

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS BELOW TO FIND THE HEARINGS

House committee meetings/bills: