County school superintendents to benefit from Senate bill

March 6 the Alabama Senate passed a bill that could positively affect county school superintendents if it makes it through the House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 153 was introduced by Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence). This bill would “modernize” the current legislation that puts a penalty on county superintendents for having an occupation outside of their existing role, according to officials. It would remove the penalty and allow county superintendents to have additional employment.

“This law regulating our county superintendents was written over 90 years ago,” Melson said. “This legislation modernizes the current code and puts city and county superintendents on an equal footing.”

Under the new law, county superintendents would also no longer be regulated to only $600 of travel expenses annually.

Both of these restrictions have never been applied to city superintendents.

Franklin County Schools Superintendent Greg Hamilton weighed in on the Senate bill, commending its efforts to equalize county and city superintendents.

“It would be good to be on the same playing field,” Hamilton said. “$600 just isn’t enough when you consider the trips we make to places like Montgomery.”

While this bill would take away the penalty against county superintendents, it would still allow the county boards of education the power to negotiate with their superintendents about the part of their contracts regarding additional employment.

“I don’t have any aspirations to seek additional employment, but I would like to be offered the opportunity if I wanted it,” Hamilton said.

The bill passed through the Senate 29-0 and will now be considered by the House of Representatives.