Kay Ivey uses education funds to give taxpayers $25 million waterpark enema

“What? You’ve never heard of the 3 R’s? Readin’, Ritin’ and Raftin’?” – John Archibald tweet

Kyle Whitmire is on this issue like a leech. Here are a few excerpts from his column:

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.

It’s an educational opportunity, too.

“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.

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.

But Singleton still supports it.

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.

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.

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.

Read all of Whitmire’s column here

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JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix.