Senate: Do the right thing, pass a budget

By Staff
The state Senate began meeting late Tuesday afternoon in a special session that could give educators an idea of what they face in the coming school year.
Gov. Bob Riley called a special session last week after the Senate failed to pass an education budget, which the House of Representatives had previously approved.
School systems across the state were forced to fire teachers last week because of uncertainty over the funds that will be available. If the budget is passed quickly, some teachers may be re-hired before they take jobs in other states.
That could mean several teachers in Franklin County and Russellville will have an opportunity to get their jobs back.
Franklin County schools were forced to let 16 non-tenured employees go, while the city system is looking at not filling 11 positions that were left vacant by resignations or retirements.
If the Senate does the right thing and passes the budget in a timely fashion, it would allow both systems to re-hire those teachers before they took new jobs.