Riley Issues Challenge To Governor-Elect Bentley and New Legislature

Governor Bob Riley on Wednesday issued the following challenge to Governor-Elect Robert Bentley and the incoming Alabama Legislature:  Find a way to pay for the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative next year.

"Next year, you can either continue to expand it, or you begin to mitigate the problems you have when you don't," Riley said.  "This is up to the next governor.  It's up to the legislative process.  But you have to prioritize."

AMSTI is a program that gives public schools access to education materials, equipment, and teacher training that schools otherwise might not have been able to afford.  The goal is to better train students in science and math, thus making them more prepared for college and careers.

The governor toured an AMSTI warehouse where equipment is kept for science experiments and interactive lessons.  He watched teachers and students safely set off chemical reactions and demonstrate projects that were created as part of the AMSTI effort.

Riley urged students, teachers, and others at the AMSTI site to continue his call for funding after he leaves office next year.

"You have to become the voice of the math and science programs," the governor said.  "You have to become the people who lobby the Legislature and say, 'You can't go back.'"

"I experience something different each time we do it," said Shaina Trumer, a sixth grader from Columbiana Middle School who was performing an experiment to study velocity.  "I learn more (through this) than just reading a textbook."

"Kids learn by doing," said Calera High School Teacher Terri Prescott.  "They learn by seeing, getting their hands in it.  They learn by applying what you learn in the classroom."

"I could explain this to the students," Prescott added.  "But when they see it, it just reinforces what they learn."

Roughly half of Alabama's schools are in AMSTI, and education leaders want to expand the program to all schools.

But lawmakers are warning that future AMSTI funding is in jeopardy because of expected shortfalls in the next education budget.  And the federal government may not be able to help next year, either.

"If you're going to cut something, don't cut this, because this is just beyond any other education that I could get," Oak Mountain High School Senior Tyler Culberson said.  "Without this, we'd be using virtual labs, or we may not even be doing the labs at all."

Fellow student Charniece Wilcox said the science and math lessons go well beyond fun and games.

"The AP classes are pretty hard, and they're pretty rigorous," Wilcox said.  "So I think it's actually showing me what an actual college class will be like."

The future of the program will become more clear next spring when the Legislature convenes and sets the education budget for the next school year.