Editorials

Now, $17 million is nothing to sneeze at — even when one of the priority items to spend it on might be a tissue in which to sneeze.

What $17 million does for Alabama schools is give them a once-in-what-might-be-a-lifetime opportunity to do some things that better-financed schools in more progressive states do as a matter of course.

Here is the big picture.

Back when this year's education budget was cobbled together, the Legislature added $17 million to the “Other Current Expenses” category as a conditional appropriation. In other words, if the money came in Gov. Bob Riley could release it to the schools. But if the money didn't come in, well . . . legislators could tell folks back home that their hearts were in the right place even if the economy wasn't.

But the economy was.

Thanks to a number of factors Alabama finds itself in the unique position to have enough money to even cover contingencies.

So, amid the usual fanfare, Riley released the funds to the schools.

In so doing the governor made a point to remind legislators and the rest of us that this was possible because the economy was doing well. He also reminded us that if legislators and the public want it to continue to do well we need to get with the program the governor proposes — nice things for elected officials to remember as the special session on economic development rolls on.

Now, we are for this.

We are happy the economy is good. We are happy the contingency funds are no longer contingent. We are happy that Riley released the money. (Public schools in Calhoun County will receive more than $400,000.)

And we are happy that the governor used this opportunity to remind legislators of what they need to do to help the economy along.

What we are not happy about is that the money will be spent on things that are described as “basic needs, from utilities to toiletries.”

Folks, it is a sorry state of affairs when basic needs are funded on a contingency basis. Utilities and toiletries should not be something left to funding such as this. Kids turn on lights and go to the toilet, and not on a contingency basis.

We ask: When will we put together a tax code that will generate the revenue so that “basic needs” (which was how the governor's press release described them) will not be stuck off in a “contingency fund”?

It is nice to see the money going to the schools. We only wish that it did not have to be allocated this way.