The May 19th Vote: Status Quo or Parent Empowered Reform?

From a Madison, Alabama Homeschool Student

On May 19th, Emily Jones, William Matthews, and Connie Spears will square off in the Republican Primary for Alabama State School Board District Eight. This district includes DeKalb, Jackson, Limestone, and Madison counties. With Alabama roots, advocacy in the school system, and a family-oriented platform, Emily Jones is the clear choice for the state board of education.

Jones was born and raised in North Alabama where she received education from Pisgah High School and Jacksonville State University. She brings almost twenty years of management experience in finance and over ten years of Department of Defense experience. During the COVID pandemic, when she asked questions about curriculum and mandates, she faced resistance and even supervision during curriculum viewing. Jones believes this opposition reveals a lack of transparency with parents. Her platform promotes five major ideas: Parental involvement, academic excellence, higher expectations, counseling reform, and state accountability. 

The issue that Jones considers most serious in this race is parental involvement. She specifically is pushing for curriculum accessibility. She advocates for parents who want to know the material that is taught in their children’s schools. She has also observed a lack of financial transparency. When she personally asked for budget information she was given vague answers and no clear path forward. She believes transparency should be a priority not a battle. If schools have an open relationship with parents about curriculum and finances, this will lead to academic excellence. 

Jones advocates for “Back to Basics” or returning to academic instruction. This includes reading, writing, arithmetic, and science. She also believes in delaying sexual education until middle school and only teaching general health education without bias. Finally, she stands against instructional time used for Social Emotional Learning and instead stands for allowing parents to teach their children how to handle their emotions.

When raising the standard Jones believes that Alabama should study and mirror the approaches of states such as Massachusetts and Oklahoma. She supports a phased in approach to ease the burden of progressively difficult material. She also advocates for asking the questions about holding teachers accountable and students learning more every year. This will help school systems focus on outcomes not certifications.

Counseling reform is another key issue for Jones. She stands for parents being informed when a student receives any type of counseling, especially since a counselor’s values may clash with a specific family belief. Jones has noticed how schools often bring large group counseling into the curriculum, bypassing Alabama Senate Bill 101 which requires parental consent for any form of counseling under 16 years of age. She believes that parents are the most qualified to make decisions for their child. Jones’ counseling reform would focus on academic support, individual referrals, and emotional guidance with parental partnership.

Finally, Jones believes power must be divided between state and local school boards. She is for local control of schools and state accountability. The local boards would control daily activities such as how schools start the day, the local events to participate in, and how funds are handled. The state board would set and enforce standards the local school boards would follow. An example Jones makes is the discipline standard. She would advocate for local boards to set discipline policies, however the state would set boundaries such as a restorative justice ban. This would not only restore order in the classroom it would also protect teachers and administration.

In less than two weeks voters will decide: Status quo or parent empowered reform. The candidate who wins the primary on May 19th must face Shatika Armstrong (D) in the general election on November 3rd. Emily Jones is the only candidate who supports parent empowered reform which includes parental involvement, academic excellence, higher expectations, counseling reform, and state accountability. She will proudly fight all the way to November 3rd for Alabama students, parents, and teachers.

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