Education in Alabama

Private and locally established common schools existed in the old Mississippi Territory in what is now Alabama.

The General Assembly shall take like measures for the improvement of such lands as have been or may be hereafter granted by the United States to this State, for the support of a Seminary of learning, and the moneys which may be raised from such lands, by rent, lease, or sale, or from any other quarter, for the purpose, aforesaid, shall be and remain a fund for the exclusive support of a State University, for the promotion of the arts, literature, and the sciences: and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as early as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institution.

[2] The state's voters approved a referendum calling for free public schools for white children in 1852.

[4] The 1868 constitution required free, racially integrated public school funded by the state.

[12] Recent reports use different standards of illiteracy than earlier compilations, and so the numbers are not completely comparable.

In the 1890s, about 25% of white and 38% of black students who entered the first grade left in their first month, unable to pay tuition.

It reduced property taxes but required schools to be funded by the localities using tuition and user fees.

[13] Eighty days of schooling per year was made mandatory in 1915, but the requirement could be waived for the very poor.

In 1955, the state allowed public schools to use intelligence and other tests to assign students.

The state also allowed public funds to flow to private schools that admitted only students of one race.

[18] In 1958, John Patterson was elected governor on a platform that promised "if a school is ordered to be integrated, it will be closed down".

[20] In 2007, over 82 percent of schools made adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward student proficiency under the National No Child Left Behind law, using measures determined by the state of Alabama.

[21] While Alabama's public education system has improved,[clarification needed] it lags behind in achievement compared to other states.

According to U.S. Census data from 2000, Alabama's high school graduation rate – 75% – is the second lowest in the United States, after Mississippi.

[29] The rate of school corporal punishment in Alabama is surpassed only by Mississippi and Arkansas.