No More Alabama Kids Allowed In Florida Schools
October 1, 2008
School boards in Alabama and Florida are putting an end to the long standing practice of allowing Alabama students to cross the state line to attend Florida schools.
Since 1999, a written agreement between the school districts of Escambia County, Alabama, and Escambia County, Florida, has allowed up to 100 students per year from Escambia, Alabama, to attend school in Escambia County, Florida.
At a recent meeting of the Escambia County (Alabama) School Board, the board voted to rescind that agreement effective with the next school year. For the agreement to officially end, Escambia County, Florida, must rescind it as well.
The Escambia County (Florida) School Board will vote on revoking the agreement at a future meeting, district spokesperson Ronnie Arnold told NorthEscambia.com.
Once the agreement is gone, Alabama students currently enrolled in Escambia, Florida, schools will be allowed to finish the highest level offered by the school where they are currently enrolled.
“For example, an Alabama student in the third grade at Bratt Elementary would be allowed to attend school here through the fifth grade,” Arnold said. Once that child finished fifth grade, they would not be allowed to move on to middle school in Florida. A student attending Ernest Ward Middle School under the agreement would be allowed to finish the eighth grade but not be allowed to attend Northview High School.
“By and large, the decision to end this agreement had to do more with the Alabama system losing students to Florida,” Arnold said.
“You had parents that lived in say Atmore that worked in Cantonment that enrolled their students in Florida. It was just more feasible for the families,” he said.
Arnold said it is a complicated decision, because many parents wish to send their children to Florida schools because they feel they have more to offer. But the influx of Alabama students into already crowded Florida schools has created problems with Florida’s class size restrictions.
There is still at least one circumstance where a student that lives in Alabama might still be able to attend school in Florida. The student of divorced parents could live with one parent or guardian during the week in Alabama while their legal custodial parent is in Florida.
Escambia County (Alabama) Superintendent of Education Billy Hines did not return NorthEscambia.com’s phone calls after we left messages Tuesday on his voice mail and with a secretary.
Your comments on this story are welcome below. However, do not mention any child or their parent/guardian by name.
Pictured above: Of the 100 students from Alabama allowed to attend school in Escambia County, Florida, 18 of them attend Ernest Ward Middle School. Once an agreement between the districts in the two states is revoked, they will be allowed to continue at Ernest Ward but not move on to Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Jay, PCA Dominate Cross Country At Northview
October 1, 2008
Jay High School and Pensacola Christian Academy took the top two slots in both boys and girls cross country in a meet held Tuesday afternoon at Northview High School.
For a complete photo gallery from the run, click here.
In the boy’s 5K run, PCA’s team placed first, follow by Jay second, Northview High third, Tate fourth, Escambia Academy fifth, Central High sixth and Pensacola High School seventh.
The top five boys runners were:
- Alan Ash, Escambia Academy, 17:19
- Josh Slaughter, PCA, 18:03
- Justin James, PCA, 18:42
- James Whitehead, Jay, 18:43
- Seth Lassiter, EA, 18:52
The top three boys runners for Northview were Cody Chance, Elliot Ross and Joshua Scott.
In the girl’s 5K run, Jay High School placed first, followed by PCA in second and Pensacola High School Third.
Individual results from the girl’s teams were not available.
Pictured above: The race for the finish during a 5K cross country run Tuesday afternoon at Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Northview Beats The Blue Devils On The Court
October 1, 2008
The Northview High School Chiefs beat the Blue Devils of Escambia County High School on the volleyball court in Atmore Tuesday afternoon.
The Chiefs took the set from ECHS 25-22, 25-22, 26-28, 25-16.
Sophomore Shawna Montgomery had two digs, four kills and five aces for the Chiefs. Brittney Thompson, a senior, had one ace, eight kills and a dig.
Ashley Digmon, a sophomore, had five digs, and Catilin Hall, a junior, had 17 assists and four aces.
Northview’s varsity and JV teams will be at home Thursday afternoon against Catholic High School. The JV plays at 4:30 and the varsity plays at 6:00.
Century Approved $3.15 Million Budget 4-1
September 30, 2008
The Town of Century approved a $3.15 million budget Monday afternoon, with one council member voting against it.
“I think that it is not very prudent of us to spend more than we are going to take in,” council President Ann Brooks said, “especially in light of the things that are going on with our economy.”
The balanced $3,154,355 budget does include over $100,000 transferred from a reserve account in order to make it balance.
The budget is just over $191,000 more than last year’s $2.96 million budget.
At Mondays’ final public hearing before approving the budget, just one member of the public spoke.
“If you take it to the people in Century, they will tell you that this budget has gone outrageous,” Leola Robinson told the council, saying that the council spends too much money. “For a little place like Century, I don’t see anything being done.”
The council also voted to keep their property tax millage rate the same at 0.817 mils. That’s equal to $81.17 in tax on a $100,000 piece of property with no exemptions.
The budget takes effect for the next fiscal year, which is October 1, 2008, to September 30, 2009.
County Business Tax Receipts Were Due Tuesday
September 30, 2008
Tuesday was the last day for business owners and practicing professionals to renew their business tax receipts for 2008-2009, according to Tax Collector Janet Holley.
The business tax receipt was previously known at occupational licenses, or more commonly, business licenses
The easiest way to renew the licenses, according to Holley, is only at www.escambiataxcollector.com. Other options are available, such as payment by mail, telephone or in person at any of the five tax collector offices, including Century and Cantonment.
Applications and information for local business tax receipts are available at www.escambiataxcollector.com.If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment, please call the tax collector’s office at 438‑6500, Ext. 252. (TTY users for the hearing impaired call 472‑0031.)
Residents Call For Century To Use County Code Officer
September 30, 2008
The Town of Century should contract with Escambia County to return code enforcement to the town, at least according to the majority of people attending a town hall meeting last night.
Century held the town hall meeting to as they consider the option of either hiring their own code enforcement office or using the county’s officer under contract. The opinions at the meeting were varied, about 90 percent of the approximately 50 people at the meeting indicated they wanted the county enforcement officer policing code violations. Mayor Freddie McCall presented the council will the signatures of nearly 100 more people that support a county officer rather than a town officer.
“I don’t see why we can’t handle our own code and our own code enforcement,” Alfonzie Cottrell said. “We’ve given away everything we’ve got in Century.”
“I think it is time for Century to start doing something themselves,” he said. “We don’t have fire department, police department, hospital…we don’t have anything. We ain’t got nothing. But we got a big old budget…we should table this until we get the money…all we got to do is cut out some that unnecessary spending.”
“I am for the town taking care of its own code enforcement, but I’m also not in favor of spending money that we don’t have,”council President Ann Brooks said, getting a round of applause from the audience.
“If Century does it, we are going to have to hire a code enforcement officer that knows his laws. He’s got to be the next thing to a lawyer himself,” Mayor Freddie McCall said, explaining that the officer will be required to present his or her cases in court.
“We can’t take a man off the street and give him minimum wages to do this job,” McCall said. “We have to build our community; we have to clean our community up. No businesses want to come now like it is.”
“We’ve got a big old budget, but we ain’t got nothing. Where is the money going?” Cottrell asked. “We need to find out where the money is going…there’s just too much going on in Century that shouldn’t be going on.”"We would like to have things cleaned up,” Donna Tullis, owner of Odom’s Bar said, specifically addressing a business just south of the state line on Highway 29 that sells used merchandise near the road.. “It’s terrible for their impression of the Sunshine State to be a pile of junk. This first thing they see,” Tullis said. “Just do something, me as business owner, I need help.”
“It taken Century a long to get where we are right now, a long time,” former mayor Benny Barnes said. “I certainly stand in support of a code enforcement officer being done by the county.”
Barnes said that hiring a town officer would be problematic. “We know one another too well, and there will be a lot of favoritism shown,” he said.
“We are already spending money from our taxes and paying our share for county code enforcement,” Line Showalter told the council. “We need to get behind our county people and support them”
“I believe we have enough people, have enough pride in their own places, to do all they can to clean it up,” council member Riley said, suggesting that a friendly letter might be all that it would take to get some people to clean up their property.”
The town will consider its next move toward code enforcement at a future council meeting.
Sandra Slay, Escambia County’s code enforcement manager, was present at Monday night’s meeting, responding to questions from residents. County Administrator Bob McLaughlin was also on hand, but did not speak publicly.
Pictured above: Century Mayor Freddie McCall presents a petition signed by about 100 residents asking for the town of use the county’s code enforcement officer. Pictured below: Just a handful of people raise their hands indicating that they support the Town of Century hiring its own code enforcement officer rather than using a county officer. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Cool Pics: Hot Tree
September 30, 2008
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call of burning trees on Arthur Brown Road Monday night.
Firefighters found one large tree and a couple of small trees burning in the yard of a home in the 6200 block of Arthur Brown Road about 9:20 p.m. It was not immediately known how the fires started.
There were no injuries or structure damage.
Pictured above: Embers fall from a large burning tree Monday night in Walnut Hill. Pictured below: Firefighters work to extinguish the tree. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos.
Miller Votes Against $700 Billion Bailout
September 30, 2008
U.S. Representative Jeff Miller of Florida cast a vote against the massive $700 billion bailout bill on Monday as it failed by a 228-205 vote.
The bill would have allowed the government to purchase failing mortgages and other financial securities.
Miller submitted the following comments about the bill:
Almost two weeks ago the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, sent a three page request to the Congress asking for 700 billion dollars of your money for his friends and former colleagues on Wall Street. The former Chairman of the investment bank, Goldman Sachs, also asked the Congress to pass a law ensuring his actions “are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
The Founders of this country set up an ingenious system of government to ensure power was not disproportionately given to one individual. The goal was to avoid tyranny at all costs. Secretary Paulson most likely skipped that class in college and was hoping you had as well. Many wonder how such a poorly structured piece of legislation could even come about in the first place. I wonder how the President approved this as well.
By demanding this bailout money, the Administration attempted to circumvent the legislative process. Moreover, the Administration continues to insist that their way is the only way to avoid an imminent crisis.
Perhaps most stunning, is that the Administration officials responsible for protecting American taxpayers and our free market system were asleep at the switch. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox recently admitted his culpability in this matter and amazingly, the Secretary of the Treasury recently admitted he had seen this crisis coming for nearly a year and just now came to the Congress.
Such large-scale government interference in our markets ensures the correction process will take much longer than it would have otherwise. What would help toward long-term stability is an injection of private capital into economy. We need to establish and maintain low tax rates on capital gains and corporate income, allowing people to invest more of their money and relieving American companies from one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.
The Democrats did not care to address the corporate tax rate issue and in fact, their response to the Administration’s bailout plan was just as bad, if not worse. They attempted to allow unions to take over corporate boards of failed companies, let judges rewrite the terms of your mortgage and even set up a slush fund for housing groups that among other things, register Democratic voters. Nowhere did they address one of the fundamental issues that got us into this mess, the implicit government backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to be changed into purely private companies, not government sponsored enterprises with special privileges. They need to pay taxes like everyone else and until they are purely private, they must be prohibited from spending taxpayer money on lobbying the government to ensure their continued existence, despite their failed management and banking practices.
An overwhelming majority of constituents have called, emailed, and written into my office stating their outright opposition to any sort of bailout for corporations that were reckless and irresponsible with their management. Moreover, responsible people who live within their means should not be bearing the burden of bailing out corporations. The American taxpayer deserves better. We must not sacrifice long term freedom for short term financial gain.
One Vehicle Accident In Bratt
September 30, 2008
Authorities responded to a one vehicle accident near Bratt Elementary School Monday night.
The accident was reported about 10:10 near the corner of the school’s property at the intersection of North Highway 99 and Godwin Road. The driver of a SUV apparently lost control and struck and culvert and street sign before crossing Highway 99 and stopping just off the road.
The driver of the vehicle had already left the scene by the time the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department and Atmore Ambulance arrived on the scene.
The accident is still under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Pictured above: The driver of this SUV had already left the scene when emergency personnel arrived across the road from Bratt Elementary School Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo.
Truth For Youth Bible Publisher Conducting Century Revival
September 29, 2008
Evangelist Tim Todd, president of Revival Fires International, is conducting revival services at Abundant Life Assembly of God in Century.
Services are at 7:00 Monday through Wednesday evenings.
Todd is the publisher/designer of the Truth for Youth New Testament which has been endorsed by Pat Boone, Billy Graham, T.D. Jakes, Art Linkletter, Rod Parsley and many other prominent Christian leaders.
The Truth for Youth will be given to every teenager attending. Abundant Life is located at 8040 North Century Boulevard. For more information, call (850) 256-5227.