Alabama governor sends education dollars to water park

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From afar, the Montgomery Whitewater rafting park under construction near Maxwell Air Force Base might look like a tourist attraction, but the county commission president there assures me it’s more than that.

“There’s going to be engineering opportunities out there for students,” Montgomery County Commission Chairman Doug Singleton said when I spoke with him Friday. “Opportunities for students, not only to have jobs but to learn about careers and have opportunities that they would never ever get to see.”

In the last couple of days, I’ve read almost every word written in the local press about the development, but this was the first I’d heard of its educational offerings.

Mostly, previous accounts have focused on its unique whitewater rafting course — and its construction delays and cost overruns.

But Singleton now says there will be partnerships with local school systems.

“It’s not just going to be an amusement park-type of place,” Singleton said.

So far, though, the project — centered around one long rafting ride and financed with more than $50 million of public money from the city and county — has run behind schedule and run over budget.

And now, if Gov. Kay Ivey has her way, you will too — with tax dollars from the Education Trust Fund.

This week, Ivey gave lawmakers her proposed budget for the $2 billion surplus in state education funds. At least $331 million of that money would go to projects and expenses unrelated to schools and teachers and classrooms.

Among those is $25 million for the Montgomery County Commission for economic development.

I asked Alabama Finance Department Director Bill Poole what sort of projects the county intended to finance with that money. Poole is the cabinet member who shapes Ivey’s proposal. His answer was short on specifics.

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“These funds can be used by the Commission to fund an economic development project that is a priority to the Montgomery County area,” Poole wrote in an email.

Poole said, from conversations with local officials, he expected them to spend the money on “the Gateway project.” The Gateway, if you’re not familiar with Montgomery, is the area outside the Maxwell Airforce Base, where the Montgomery Whitewater development is.

At first, Singleton was likewise vague, saying the money would develop projects along Maxwell Boulevard in the Gateway area.

However, an item the Montgomery County Commission put on its agenda during a work session this week was a little more specific.

“Montgomery County Commission seeks to provide funding of $25,000,000 to Montgomery County Community Cooperative District for economic development projects,” a memo attached to the agenda item said.

According to its incorporation documents on file with the Alabama Secretary of State, the Montgomery County Community Cooperative District was set up by the county to develop a specific area — the site of the Montgomery Whitewater park.

With little discussion, the commission approved putting the item on the agenda for its next meeting.

I asked Singleton if that was the same money they hoped to get from the state.

“Yeah, that’s basically the $25 million that we’re hoping that we will get from the state so we can continue to accelerate these projects out there,” he said before inviting me to put on a hard hat and come see the construction happening at the site.

Singleton said there might be other things, too, besides the waterpark, but when I asked him what those might be, he was again short on specifics.

Gov. Kay Ivey’s office won’t come out and say it, but they want Alabama lawmakers to approve using education dollars to build a waterpark or perhaps a hotel or restaurant next to it.

But here’s the thing — you can’t tell any of that from what Ivey gave lawmakers this week.

You can’t tell what a lot of other things on Ivey’s wish list are, either.

And lawmakers are scratching their heads.

“You probably have a lot of the same questions we have,” state Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, the education budget chairman, told my colleague Sarah Swetlik.

The Alabama Senate education budget chairman was equally stumped.

“There are a myriad of items in there, of which I’m not familiar or aware, I have no knowledge of,” state Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said.

The governor’s office had better come clean, he said.

Ivey could have come clean from the start. If she thinks funding a struggling whitewater park is more important than education, she should make that clear instead of sneaking it into her budget.

Rather than shoot straight, Kay Ivey tried to take us for a ride.

Now she’s going to get an educational opportunity, instead.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group, 2020 winner of the Walker Stone Award, winner of the 2021 SPJ award for opinion writing, and 2021 winner of the Molly Ivins prize for political commentary. Sign up for his weekly newsletter and get "Alabamafictation" in your inbox every Wednesday.

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