(BAY MINETTE, Ala.) - It's an overwhelming yes to the penny sales tax.
"First of all we would like to take the digital renaissance all the way down to the fourth grade, all of our schools across the county. Technology is so important for our children. The other thing I want to do is I want to start teaching foreign languages K-12. I want our kindergartners to experience a foreign language and by the time they get to 8th grade they would have foreign language and we would do that with Rosetta Stone. It would not involve more personnel, " said School Superintendent Dr. Alan Lee.
A long wish list and a sigh of relief today that more than 400 jobs are safe.
"With the growth that we are seeing ,12 hundred students in the last year, I can't afford to lose anybody. We need every individual we have working for us no matter what their assignment is," said Lee.
Expanding the digital renaissance initiative will take grant money and stream lining the budget, so will expanding foreign languages to the younger grades. High school Spanish teacher Meredith Warren agrees the younger the students learn, the better.
"You know right now we're just learning how to put one or two words together. If they came to me with that knowledge we could actually start communication and really by the time they left high school they would be semi fluent, " said Warren, who teaches at Fairhope High School.
When the penny sales tax expires in five years, the Alabama Legislature has the option of renewing it. The Superintendent says he hopes the national and state economy will improve way before then.
