Better late than never, still good to have budget

By Staff
The Alabama Senate passed a $6.4 billion education budget by a 32-1 vote Thursday.
The budget's passage comes a week later than it should have, as senators walked away from a regular session last week without getting the budget passed.
Gov. Bob Riley called the Senate back into a special session this week and the Senate passed the bill quickly.
It is amazing what can happen when lawmakers feel pressure and criticism coming from all sides.
We are pleased the Senate got the education budget passed and hopefully many of the estimated 1,000 teachers who lost their jobs last week will be re-hired.
The state is still facing tough economic times and all the educators will not be hired again. Schools in Alabama will see a total reduction of $370 million over this year's budget.
Still, some will not be forced to look for work out of state and that is always good.
At least our local school officials across the state know what they will be facing and can get back to the task at hand.