From his childhood days tagging along with his father Grover to inspect Future Farmers of America (FFA) projects across Franklin County to his 28 years as a business and economics instructor at Northwest Junior College, Johnny Mack Morrow's life is built on a foundation of public education.
Morrow's passion for public education and his concern about its future is the driving force in his bid to unseat Dr. Larry Stutts for Alabama Senate District 6.
So strong is Morrow's fear about the future of public education in light of the Alabama Accountability Act that he's vacating an eighth run for his Alabama House District 18 seat.
“Protecting public education will be the cornerstone of my campaign,” Morrow said. “The fact that a child in rural Franklin County can get on a publicly funded bus and go to school and have publicly funded teachers teach him who are qualified, give him publicly funded books—that means any child can become anything he or she wants."
“Public education is open to everyone. It's the public seeing to it that a child has what he or she needs to succeed. When you stop that, then you don't have leaders coming out of public schools because they simply don't exist anymore. These people in Montgomery who are pushing charter and private schools, that's their intent, to destroy public education,” Morrow added.
And Morrow places Stutts firmly in that group.
“Now we have the Accountability Act, which Senator Stutts voted for. This past session they came up with the need to prop the Accountability Act up and I think it ought to be repealed,” Morrow said. “When that bill came out of the Senate, and Stutts voted for it, we killed it in the House.”
The proposed amendment would have allowed more tax credits for contributions to private schools.
Morrow believes his voice will better be heard in the Senate rather than in the House, where there are 105 members and, as he describes, a situation that is “out of control.”
“We have no leadership, no direction and I don't care to be a part of that body. We don't work toward solving problems. Problems in this state mount up and get worse every year. At least being one of 35 senators will allow me a larger voice and I know I'll be heard because I'll make sure of that,” Morrow said. “We have a senator right now voting against public education in Alabama and this senator happens to represent me. I'm not willing to sit by and idly watch him try to dismantle public education.”
Morrow said more than $4 million has been taken from public schools in Senate District 6 since the 2013 passage of the Alabama Accountability Act.
“It's only the beginning of what they want. $4 million is a lot of money to be taken from the county school system Senator Stutts represents,” Morrow said. “That money, instead of helping a child in Waterloo or Leighton or in Florence City Schools or down in Hamilton, is being sent to fund private schools in Montgomery. It's the rich people in Montgomery. We're sending our money to Montgomery to fund the education of children who already attend private schools.
Four million dollars might not seem like a make or break amount, but it's only a beginning and it has to be stopped,” Morrow added.
Morrow's history with public education has deep roots. His father taught at Vina, Phil Campbell and Red Bay, and Morrow attended all three schools, graduating high school from Red Bay. After receiving his economics degree from Mississippi State University and earning his MBA from Samford University, he returned to Franklin County and began teaching at Northwest Junior College until retiring in 1998. His mother Hazel was also a public school teacher in Franklin County.
“As you see, public education is a big part of my life. Mark Twain said, 'Out of the public schools comes the greatness of the nation.' Public schools remain the backbone of our nation and I won't stand by and watch them get destroyed in Alabama,” Morrow said.
Morrow, 74, and his wife Martha live in Red Bay on Cypress Cove Farm. He has served House District 18 since 1990. His district includes western Lauderdale County, eastern western Franklin County and much of Colbert County.
Political qualifying will begin in February, 2018, with the primary election set for June 5, 2018.
