Friday 9/28/2007 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

Birmingham News – Riley delays scheduled execution to allow state to modify lethal injection procedures.

Birmingham News – Chancellor says that private foundation contains millions of dollars.

Birmingham News – The Birmingham News calls for Governor to order DNA testing in Thomas Arthur’s case while stay is in effect.

Mobile Press-Register – Bush threatens veto of House-passed measure that would allow adding coverage for wind damage to federal flood insurance policies.

Mobile Press-Register – Bishop State Community College foundation to be dissolved.

Mobile Press-Register – Press-Register sees improvement in reading scores among state’s fourth graders as a “cause for celebration.”

Mobile Press-Register – Press-Register contends that development of toll roads is “a reasonable answer” to state’s infrastructure needs.

Associated Press – Many expressing interest in U.S. House opening.

Montgomery Advertiser – National GOP chair visits Alabama faithful.

Montgomery Advertiser – Huntsville creating nation’s most ambitious fallout shelter plan.

Decatur Daily – Education Trust Fund revenues growth slows, budget official warns State Board members that “real priorities” must be determined for the 2009 budget.

Decatur Daily – State Board of Education gives chancellor the authority to reject any two-year college appointment or promotion “that violates state law.”

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

Who were directors of state’s 2-year-college foundation?

MONTGOMERY — The long-standing Alabama College System Foundation could disappear or evolve into an independent foundation if state education officials have their way.

At the behest of members of the State Board of Education, Chancellor Bradley Byrne is investigating the operation of the the foundation, which manages the endowment of a scholarship program for two-year college students, but which also reportedly paid for receptions to honor school board members and college employees.

Though there has been no implication of wrongdoing, those looking into the foundation’s activities have learned that for many years it operated with a board of directors that existed in name only.

People, including school board members, who have been named in IRS documents as directors of the foundation’s board repeatedly have denied any affiliation with, or knowledge of, the board or its actions.

Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, was listed as a board member in IRS filings for 1999 and 2000, but Wade said he never had been asked to serve on the foundation’s board.

Wade said the only reason he might be linked to the foundation is through his work with the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, which he headed for the first 10 years of its existence. The partnership had its own foundation, he said.

“It does make you a little uneasy when you are in the position that I am now and was then,” he said. “You do want to know what your name is being associated with, because there are implications to you personally and to the organization that you represent.”

According to the foundation’s most recent filings with the IRS, nearly $10,000 was spent to hold The Chancellor’s Awards, an annual reception for two-year college employees and faculty. Money also reportedly was spent on an event recognizing State Board of Education members who were elected or re-elected.

School board member Stephanie Bell, R-Montgomery, said the expenditures for the State Board of Education raised red flags for her.

“I have always had a problem with the receptions, or anyone funding receptions for school board members with money from a foundation connected to the department, or any of the other foundations,” she said. “If candidates want to have an inaugural reception, they should provide that for themselves as any other candidate would do.”

The bulk of the money in the foundation’s possession actually belongs to a program that garners recognition for the two year college system and its students: the All-Alabama Academic Team Recognition program.

The board of directors, a separate entity from the foundation’s board, started a capital campaign in 1998 to create an endowment for the program, according to former Ayers State Technical College President Ed Meadows, who serves as the vice chairman of the program’s board of directors and its endowment coordinator.

Meadows said the majority of the endowment’s funding comes from corporate sponsorship.

“The foundation is the fiscal agent for our endowment,” said Meadows, who is now the president of Lurleen B. Wallace Community College. “The Alabama Commission on Higher Education was once the fiscal agent, but eight years ago we removed the need for that when we determined that the Alabama College System Foundation was established to allow us to do this.”

Last year, $14,927 in scholarships was paid out for All-Alabama Academic honorees, according to the foundation’s 2006 Form 990.

Devin Stephenson, chairman of the board of directors for the recognition program, said he feels strongly that Byrne would lean toward restructuring the Alabama College System Foundation so that its sole purpose is to administer the endowment.

“This is the premier recognition program for our students,” he said. “It’s a good thing that recognizes our students’ academic achievement and their community service.”