Governor Bentley is a Magician!

Okay, so you know the "tax breaks for private school students" legislation that has everyone up in arms (and rightfully so)?  Well, Governor Bentley has signed it into law.  Yep.  Never mind the fact that established processes weren't followed and that some of the legislators that voted in favor of it didn't have the opportunity to read it before voting and even THEY were upset by what it said or didn't say after they had the chance to read it.

So.... The Accountability Act..... If a school is deemed a "failing school," under antiquated guidelines, the parent has a receive a break if he sends his child to a private school instead.  Just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly, we're taking money away from schools that already aren't receiving enough funding to give books to each student and giving it back to the parent since his child isn't educated in that system?  Interesting.  It seems that private school would be considered a luxury.  Following this same logic, a person driving a Mercedes should have to pay less for her car tag than a person driving a Kia because it costs more to buy, maintain, and fuel a Mercedes.  Does the Mercedes owner pay less for a car tag, though?  Of course not.

In passing the Accountability Act, Governor Bentley (in essence) provided an incentive for voluntary segregation.  I remember moving to Aliceville and wondering how the schools were all black when I saw white people in stores every day.  Heck, I even had white teachers.  Where were their kids?  Pickens Academy, of course.  How is it that a school system is good enough for a person to receive pay from it and to "teach" some kids but not good enough for that same person's child to be educated by it?  Personally, if my child was in public school, I wouldn't want her teacher's children to attend private school. But that's just me.

Congrats, Governor Bentley!  Not only have you proven that political processes don't work, but you've given a nice slap to the faces of everyone that fought for integration and successfully set the state, which was already behind, another 40 years back! You must be proud.