Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones told a Montgomery town hall Tuesday that he wants to “phase out the CHOOSE Act,” Alabama's education savings account program, rather than end it outright, the Alabama Reflector reported. The program's income caps on eligibility come off Jan. 1. Jones said he “started out candidly talking about eliminating it,” but because students are already using the program, he would let them stay. “Those kids made a decision and their parents… Read More
Category: Opelika Schools
Amendments 3 and 4 Ask Voters to Put the Pledge, Student-Led Prayer and the National Anthem in Schools Into the Alabama Constitution
Two of the four statewide amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot deal with what happens at the start of the school day, the Alabama Reflector reported. Amendment 3 , sponsored by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, would require K-12 public school boards to adopt a policy for the voluntary daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance and a second policy allowing prayer that is “initiated by and led” by students. It passed the House 94-3… Read More
Alabama Public Schools Lost About 12,000 Students Last Year, Nearly Double the Prior Drop, State Superintendent Says
Preliminary numbers show about 702,000 students enrolled in Alabama public schools for the 2025-26 school year, down roughly 12,000 from the year before, State Superintendent Eric Mackey told the State Board of Education on Thursday, the Alabama Reflector reported. The prior year's drop was about 5,800. “We had thought it would probably stabilize this year,” Mackey said. “It turns out this year's loss is more than double, or essentially double, what last year's was.” The… Read More
New Faculty Senate Law Takes Effect, and Auburn Went Further Than Most Alabama Universities
HB 580, the state law that limits the power of faculty senates and requires post-tenure reviews at public universities, took effect Oct. 1, and Alabama's universities have responded to it in very different ways, the Alabama Reflector reported. Auburn's Board of Trustees voted in June to dissolve the University Senate and take direct control of curricula, even though the law has an exemption for Auburn and the University of Alabama because of their standing in… Read More
Opelika High Theatre Director Revel Gholston Inducted Into the Alabama Conference of Theatre Hall of Fame
This is a brief follow-on to a story first published by The Observer , Opelika's community newspaper. Read their full story for complete coverage. Opelika High School theatre director Revel Gholston received the Alabama Conference of Theatre's 2026 Hall of Fame Award on Aug. 22 at a ceremony in Montgomery, according to a contributed item in The Observer. The award is reserved for people who have done original or groundbreaking work with a lasting impact… Read More
Final weekend: Opelika High Theatre Society’s ‘Come From Away’ closes Oct. 1-4
Three performances remain of the Tony-winning true story of Gander, Newfoundland: Thursday and Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Opelika Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets $15 adults, $10 students. Read More
Auburn Researchers Win $2.73 Million NIH Grant to Help Low-Income Families Sleep Better
Two Auburn University College of Human Sciences researchers have received a $2.73 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to test a program meant to help children and parents sleep better, the university announced Sept. 24. Dr. Brian Gillis, assistant professor of marriage and family therapy, and Dr. Ben Hinnant, professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, will run "Good Nights Sleep Program: A Randomized Clinical… Read More
Auburn Cracks the U.S. News Top 100 at No. 100; Nursing Jumps 13 Spots
Auburn University rose two places to No. 100 nationally and three places to No. 46 among public universities in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings released Tuesday, staying Alabama's highest-ranked university. The biggest program gain came in nursing, where the undergraduate program climbed 13 spots to No. 27 nationally and No. 19 among publics. Undergraduate engineering rose five places to No. 52 overall (No. 30 among publics, fourth among the SEC's… Read More
Auburn Reports Record 35,733 Students, a 94% Retention Rate and an 84% Six-Year Graduation Rate
Auburn University set enrollment and student-success records this fall, reporting 35,733 total students — 29,693 of them undergraduates — in figures released Monday. The class arrived out of an admissions cycle that drew more than 67,000 undergraduate applications. Auburn enrolled 6,485 first-time freshmen, up 6% from fall 2025, and 3,286 of those freshmen qualified for Alabama resident tuition, up 1.5%. Counting the whole student body, 59% of undergraduates and more than 38% of graduate and… Read More
Union-Backed Faculty Win the First Seats on Auburn’s New Advisory Council
AUBURN — The first results are in from elections for Auburn University's Presidential Academic Advisory Council, the body the Board of Trustees created in June to replace the dissolved University Senate — and candidates endorsed by the campus AAUP chapter took five of the seats. The Auburn Plainsman reported 793 votes cast in the first round, seating faculty members from 12 colleges and the university library. The union said its endorsed winners include Justin Benefield… Read More
Auburn Removes LGBTQ Student Resource Pages From University Website
AUBURN — Auburn University has removed a section of its career-services website that collected job-search resources aimed at LGBTQ students, 1819 News reported Wednesday, a day after the outlet published a story about the pages. According to the report, the deletion covered the "affinity/identity groups" subsection under the site's "Who We Serve" tab, which had linked to outside guides on topics including career advancement for transgender and non-binary workers. The change follows a broader reshaping… Read More
