When School Bells Ring

When school bells ring across Alabama signaling the beginning of another school year, the sounds will mark the beginning of another chapter in the unbroken support of Baptists in this state for public education. 

It was prominent Baptist pastor and politician Daniel P. Bestor, of Greensboro, who offered Alabama’s first bill in the state Legislature to create a public school system. What Baptists did for their own children, they wanted for all the state’s children. 

In his book “Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Heart of Dixie,” Wayne Flynt observes, “No sooner had early Baptists established churches than many of them began schools.” He points to one church near Gorgos that started a school and charged each pupil $1 per term but offered free tuition to children whose parents could not pay. 

In 1844 Milo Jewett, then president of Judson College, declared, “Next to educating one’s own children, nothing is more important than the education of the entire community.” He said Alabama must educate “the whole people” or fall behind other states. 

James DeVotie, who served churches in Montgomery and Tuscaloosa and edited The Alabama Baptist in the 1800s, contended that development of “mental capital” was the way to extend to “all classes an opportunity to rise from ignorance to a good degree of intellectual culture.” He argued that “none should be overlooked” in establishing public schools. 

It took the Alabama Legislature about 10 years (1854) to pass a bill establishing public schools in the state but when it finally did most of the leaders behind the effort were either Baptists or Methodists, Flynt points out. One prominent Baptist called education “the birthright of all Americans” and the editor of The Alabama Baptist predicted public schools “would be the most profitable investment the state has ever made in any enterprise.” 

Following the devastation of the Civil War, Baptists continued their enthusiastic support of public education, and Alabama leaders such as Benjamin Riley worked tirelessly to include blacks in the educational efforts. When the state Legislature tried to divide educational funds by race in proportion to the taxes each paid, Baptists objected because blacks had little wealth and paid little taxes at that time. The bill would destroy education for black children, Alabama Baptist leaders warned. 

The extent of Alabama Baptist support for public education was evidenced in the convention sermon of the 1876 annual meeting when the preacher declared the “primacy of public education above all other state needs.” 

To be sure, public education had its critics, including some Alabama Baptists. Flynt points to Baptists who complained during the 1870s and 1880s about not being able to teach religion in public schools and others who thought the quality of education too inferior for their children and advocated for private (usually parochial) schools instead.

Baptists and other religious groups have a long history of sponsoring parochial schools in Alabama and still do. Some of these are outstanding institutions academically and in other ways. The right and responsibility for parents to educate their children as they desire is deeply rooted among Baptists. In 1971, for example, Southern Baptists declared in resolution form “that we reaffirm the right of religious people or religious bodies to develop institutions to achieve their religious objectives at their own expense, and that we reaffirm the right of parents to send their children to nonpublic schools at their own expense.” 

Historically Baptists have believed as the resolution declares: “That we reaffirm our belief that the use of public funds for education in church-controlled schools, regardless of the manner in which these funds are channeled to church school, is contrary to the principle of religious liberty.” That includes the tax credit provision passed by the Alabama Legislature during its last session as part of the Alabama Accountability Act.  

Through another resolution in 1979 Southern Baptists noted their historical support of public education and their commitment to the right of all children to achieve their God-given potential. “We hearby commit ourselves to help achieve quality education for every child in this nation,” the resolution said in closing. 

Critics of public education can be found today as they could more than a century ago. Some Baptists still object to religion being taught in public schools. Concern about quality of education continues. A few Southern Baptist leaders such as Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., have called for “responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy from the public schools.” When that idea was presented to Alabama Baptists in 2004, it was roundly rejected. A year later a similar proposal was rejected by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Some political organizations also are piling on public schools with loud assertions that “the public schools have failed.” While there are isolated problems, no other public institution has done as much good for as many people as public schools. No other public institution has contributed so much to the progress of our state and our nation as the public schools. Public schools have been part of the culture of aspiration for Baptists and others since their founding, and they still are. 

Alabama public schools have work to do, and they are improving. Reading scores are up. Math scores are up. Curriculum is improving. Standardized tests show in some places elementary students from poverty-plagued neighborhoods outperform students from some of the state’s wealthiest areas.

The scores remind us that to equate demographics with destiny is a mistake. Children from poor families, like those from other families, can achieve great things if provided the opportunity. 

Public education can work for all. Some low-achieving schools have been turned around. Others can be. It takes leadership from teachers and administrators, participation by parents, support from the community and resources from government. This is no time to flee from the public schools. Children still need the opportunity to become all God created them to be. Alabama still needs to educate “the whole people” or fall behind. Investing in public education is still the state’s most profitable investment.

Whether one attends public schools, private schools, parochial schools or home schools, all can support public schools. 

So when the school bells ring in a few days, say a prayer for the public schools — for the administrators, teachers, students and staff. Many of them are your fellow Alabama Baptists. Be a part of Alabama Baptists’ long history of supporting public education.