MONTGOMERY — A bill that would make another attempt at getting a $30 million loan to Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) will likely be considered in the Senate next week.
The bill passed the Senate Education Budget Committee on Wednesday albeit with opposition from three Republicans.
Legislation filed by State Sen. Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) would replace Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer as the administrator of a $30 million loan program designed to bail out BSC.
Under the bill, Dr. Jim Purcell, executive director of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, would administer the state loan to BSC.
“The dilemma we’re in is the time factor for students in registering school is going to put it in a situation where it’s going to make a tight window to retain the students from high school who have to make a commitment to go to school. We’re in a time dilemma. We’re trying to move it from the point it is now forward,” State Sen. Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) said on Thursday.
Waggoner, the Senate Rules Committee chair, said on the Senate floor on Thursday the bill would “hopefully” be considered next week in the Senate.
Boozer denied a $30 million state loan to bail the private school out last year after legislators passed the Distressed Institutions of Higher Education Revolving Loan Program and appropriated $30 million in the 2023 legislative session for BSC. The Alabama State Treasurer's Office administers the program under the current version of the law.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson dismissed a lawsuit filed by BSC in October against Boozer after he denied the loan.
“After many hours of thoroughly reviewing and investigating the information provided by Birmingham-Southern, I stand by my decision to deny using Alabama taxpayer dollars for a loan to an institution which I believe has been grossly mismanaged for many years. It is beyond distressed,” Boozer wrote in an op-ed in February.
College officials have said BSC is in danger of shutting down if they don't receive the state loan.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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