The same timber companies devastating the nation's forests are shortchanging schools.
Timber is one of the state's largest sources of wealth.
However, little of that wealth makes its way toward education. Although public schools traditionally rely on property taxes for most of their funding, timber and agriculture interests in Alabama have rigged the law to avoid paying their fair share. Forest owners pay property taxes at half the rate of other Alabama businesses. The public schools have not benefited from the economic injection of billions of dollars from the pulp and paper industry. And yet, the same companies that benefit from the tax breaks can't hire entry-level employees from the high schools in their counties to come in on the mill floor, because the kids can't read the time sheets.