Alabama voters approve statewide amendment to allow county school system to sell its land

Alabama voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to approve the only statewide constitutional amendment on the 2024 general election ballot.

While on everyone's ballot, Statewide Amendment 1 only benefits one place - the Franklin County School System in northwest Alabama.

Voters moved to adopt the measure by a margin of 74% to 26%, according to election results available late Tuesday night.

It gives the Franklin County School System the ability to sell a large portion of land it owns in Walker and Fayette counties in hopes of selling or leasing it to a developer.

The land is approximately 225 acres at Interstate 22 and Alabama State Route 13, north of Eldridge.

The lands are considered "sixteenth section lands" and "indemnity lands" that Congress granted to schools in Alabama in the 1800s for the "support and maintenance of public schools" in Alabama .

Without the amendment, the school system could not sell nor lease the land because it's managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The amendment transfers ownership rights of those lands to the Franklin County School Board, and any money earned from the lease or sale of the lands will be paid to the school system.

The amendment needed statewide approval because it involves multiple counties, said State Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville.

Alabama also does not have home rule authority, so individual county and local governments need the state legislature to support an amendment similar to this one for everyone in the state to vote on.

Proceeds from a lease or sale would go toward capital improvement projects at Franklin County Schools, where there is a need for expansion projects, Kiel said.

Walker and Fayette counties could get sales taxes and property taxes from the developments likely to come from that area at the I-22/Route 13 interchange, Kiel said.

"If you look at other intersections on I-22, in that area, you'll find that Jasper has a Love's Truck Stop and retail development there," Kiel said. "If you go west to Winfield, they have a new truck stop there. This is one of the more higher traffic areas. It's not been looked at for development ... and if Buc-ee's was looking for a West Alabama location, this would be that location."