Opinion ID: 1843606
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The People's Commitment to Public Education

Text: Anyone reading § 256, Ala. Const. of 1901, as amended, and the constitutional provisions that preceded it, could not help but observe that the people, from the time the first constitution was ratified in 1819, have directed the legislative branch to encourage and preserve public education in this state. In Alabama's first constitution, Article VI, the people declared the following: Schools, and the means of education, shall forever be encouraged in this state; and the general assembly shall take measures to preserve, from unnecessary waste and damage, such lands as are or hereafter may be granted by the United States for the use of schools in each township in this state, and apply the funds, which may be raised from such lands, in strict conformity to the object of such grant.... After reading this provision, I find two things clear: (1) schools and the means of education were forever to be encouraged in this state; and (2) the Legislature was required to preserve the lands granted by the United States for the use of schools in each township, and to apply the funds accruing therefrom in strict conformity with the grant. The Constitutions of 1819, 1861, and 1865 included substantially similar provisions relating to public education.