Bentley's Plans

February 8, 2012 - 6:20pm

An outline of some of Gov. Robert Bentley's proposals to the Alabama Legislature in his State of the State speech on Tuesday night:
 -Invest more in workforce development and career tech programs to help Alabama recruit jobs.
 -Free businesses "from unnecessary, bureaucratic roadblocks."
 -Borrow money through a bond issue to repair roads and replace bridges.
 -Consolidate state agencies, streamline the issuing of state licenses and save on technology to cope with a 25 percent to 30
percent cut in the state General Fund budget.
 -Give schools more flexibility to develop their own strategies free of state and federal bureaucracies.
 -Create charter schools to give parents a choice of where their children attend school.
 -Give teachers a dollar-for-dollar tax credit when they spend their money on their classrooms.
 -Create a teacher cabinet of teachers, administrators, school board members and parents to get unfiltered feedback on the needs of public schools.
 -Start a health alliance to reduce Alabama's rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and infant mortality.


Associated Press