ALCAP President Greg Davis welcomed Alabama State Representative Jamie Kiel onto Priority Talk Radio to explain Statewide Amendment 1, an amendment he is sponsoring that will appear on every Alabama voter’s ballot in the 2024 General Election. Although the issue in the amendment only affects three counties (Franklin, Fayette, and Walker), it must appear on a statewide ballot because more than one county is involved.
Explaining the background of the issue: The federal government has given school systems property that may be used for their own benefit (called Sixteenth Section Land). Currently, the Alabama Department of Conservation has the legal authority to manage all sixteenth section and indemnity school land in Alabama. Also, around 100 years ago, land that was owned by school systems was redistributed for various reasons, which led to school systems owning property that was not in their county. This happened to Franklin County Schools, and leads us to the issue at hand involving Walker and Fayette County.
The issue: The land in question is located at the intersection of Highway 13 and Interstate 22 and is designated as sixteenth section and indemnity property. Franklin County Schools owns this land in Fayette and Walker counties; however, they cannot do much with it to aid their own schools (it is in a different part of the state), or sell it and profit from it in that manner. Thus, this amendment has been put forward that would allow the Franklin County Board of Education to manage, sell, and lease sixteenth section land in Fayette and Walker counties.
For more information, including why State Rep. Jamie Kiel believes this amendment would also benefit Walker and Fayette County, listen to their conversation here.