photo by Laura Johnson

PACTing It In: Mark Knight addresses the crowd at the Save Alabama PACT meeting Thursday night.

PACT holders speak out

Local participants asked to petition lawmakers to fund program

By Laura Johnson | Alex City Outlook

Published Friday, October 30, 2009

The statewide grassroots movement Save Alabama PACT came to Alexander City Thursday when parents and grandparents who bought in to the state’s struggling prepaid college tuition program met at the gym in the Charles E. Bailey Sportplex.

About 65 attendees filled the gym and listened to State Sen. Ted Little and two state treasury candidates, Jeremy Sherer and Charles Grimsley at the meeting in addition to the organization’s president Patti Lambert and Mark Knight, who organized the meeting.

They discussed the program’s history, current standing and its future along with the cornerstone argument of the debate: should the PACT agreement be considered a contract.

“We never thought we would be standing in the Sportplex Gym talking about what a contract is and what it’s not,” Knight said. “My opinion is that when you sign an agreement and they sign an agreement and there is a witness, it’s an agreement.”

Knight and others who have invested in the program fear that the funding will not be there when they need it. They argue that they signed a contract with the state that must be honored.

The PACT board argues that it is more like a retirement fund than a contract and that they are not obligated to ensure that the each child receives the tuition payment their investing parents and grandparents expected they would.

Alexander City resident Mark Tuggle has never bought in to the pact program but came to the meeting to hear what Little and the two treasury candidates had to say about the issue.

He balked at the idea that the agreement was not a contract and said while the candidates had some strong ideas for resolving the problem, no real resolution came from the conversation.

“It’s a contract, give me a break,” Tuggle said. “I think the candidates made some sense, but their not going to fix it, the legislators are going to fix it.”

Save Alabama PACT is asking area PACT holders to begin petitioning local lawmakers to pass legislation ensuring that they will receive the return they expected to receive on the investment.

“They respond to volume and multiple voices,” Knight said. “Make them acknowledge who you are.”

The organization is also organizing a group of concerned citizens to attend the upcoming PACT board’s meeting on Nov. 4. They are asking area holders to arrive at the Winn Dixie parking lot on that day at 11:30 a.m.

From there they will caravan to a church on Dexter Avenue for a one-hour meeting before walking to the Montgomery Capital to attend the board meeting. The last thing they asked individuals to do was spread information about their organization.

The opposing sides will continue to debate the issue, but what local residents were talking about after the meeting was simply a resolution.

Alexander City resident Neal Davis bought PACT for his two grandsons, one of which is a junior at Auburn. He came to get first-hand knowledge about the program.

“I’m hoping that somehow this problem will be resolved,” Davis Said. “(And) for those people that have paid for PACT, that their children will be able to finish college.”

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