Opinion: Upcoming school year promises more academic achievement for Alabama students

For students, we are just weeks away from the start of the school year and they will soon be heading back to the classroom.

For Alabama that means another year where education leaders are working to achieve higher scholastic achievements. Actually, in this past year, 3rd grade proficiency scores were up. They were up to 93.5 percent, which is 16 percent higher over the past four yeas. In addition, this is the 4th year in a row for improvement of these scores. Alabama has chronically struggled with reading scores and neighboring states have surpassed our students, but the state is making progress.

Alabama has been appropriating record amounts of money to the education trust fund and there have clearly been improvements. Also, with the Alabama Choose Act, there are also millions of dollars being sent to parents to spend at private schools as well. Despite the increase in finances for public schools, however, there is still a lot to do to improve academic results for Alabama students.

While we are six months from the next legislative session, lawmakers need to huddle up to determine what more must be done to push schools for better test scores for reading and math comprehension. So while summer may be coming to an end, education leaders are gearing up for the school year ahead and working to improve even higher outcomes for their student population.

Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on X, formerly Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco.