Mar 07, 2025

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So you've heard that President Trump wants to close the U.S. Department of Education. The big questions are: Can he really do that? And how might this affect Alabama?

To abolish the department requires an act of Congress, including a 60% vote in the Senate, so don't hold your breath for that. But the administration can cut and defund the department and move its responsibilities to other agencies.

Even that's complicated because many things the Education Department handles is assigned by law to that department.

Still, reports AL.com's Rebecca Griesbach and Williesha Morris, some state officials are warning schools and colleges to expect some bumps in the road.

The Department of Education distributes around $2.6 billion to K-12 schools and colleges in Alabama. The Alabama Commission on Higher Education's Jim Purcell said he believes the department will be dissolved and “In the short run, I encourage all those currently supported by the Department of Education’s funding and services to prepare for disruption.”

The funding is mandated and would likely come through different agencies. Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said he's concerned over the shakeup resulting in reduced funding but that so far he hasn't seen any indications of that.

Congress created the Department of Education in 1979. Its creation had been a goal of the teacher's union National Education Association, which had given then-President Carter its first-ever presidential endorsement.

Since then it's been the target of those who've wanted to see states have more say-so in the allocation of those federal funds.

Said state Rep. Danny Garrett, a Trussville Republican: “The funds will continue to come, it’s just I think we would have more flexibility.”

Jefferson County's Walter Gonsoulin is the first Alabama school superintendent to become National Superintendent of the Year, reports AL.com's Rebecca Griesbach.

The School Superintendent Association has been awarding the title to local superintendents for 37 years. It named Gonsoulin its winner Thursday at its national conference in New Orleans.

Gonsoulin is a 30-year educator who's been Jefferson County's superintendent since 2020. His district has 34,000 students.

Friday's a great day for an Alabama legislative roundup. So let's do one:

A bill adding legal protection for law-enforcement officers passed the House 75-26 and moves to the Senate. The bill would apply to law-enforcement officers facing charges of excessive use of force and entitle them to a hearing to determine whether their actions, including the use of deadly force, were justified. That hearing would take place before a criminal prosecution could take place.

A state ban on possession of so-called Glock switches (parts that enable a gun to fire as a fully-automatic weapon) passed the House. The bill, which has been amended, moves back to the Senate. The conversion switches are already banned by federal law, but the state law would open the door for local authorities to prosecute possession cases.

A measure that would require the state to reimburse those who've had their SNAP benefits (food stamps) stolen has been introduced by state Sen. Vivian Davis-Figures, a Mobile Democrat. The Department of Human Resources has said thousands of people have lost their benefits to scammers who used tactics such as phishing calls and credit-card skimming and that security upgrades are being put into place.

The House passed a bill that would increase penalties for undocumented immigrants who are convicted of felonies against minors.

The House passed another bill that would have the state track and regulate the labor brokers who bring migrants into the country.

A bill giving the governor more power over the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs won final passage. Under it, the governor will appoint the commissioner directly, and the commissioner will be a member of the governor's cabinet. The state's VA board, which previously has appointed the commissioner, will now serve an advisory role.

“(Richard Scrushy) was charged with Statute 666. So that was very clear to me where this attack was coming from ... And then, when the prosecutors rested their case, they rested their case on June 6 of 2006. 6-6-6. From my perspective, it was a conspiracy that required Franklin, Feaga and Fuller (two prosecutors and the judge) all to accomplish. If you look at their names, they all start with the letter ‘F,’ which is the sixth letter of the alphabet.”

Leslie Scrushy, on the "spiritual aspect" of her husband's 2006 bribery conviction, at a press conference in which Richard Scrushy claimed that new evidence would exonerate him.

In 1917, actor Davis Roberts of Mobile.

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