Over the last one and one-half weeks, I’ve attended meetings of Save Alabama PACT chapters in Mobile, Lee, Houston and Tuscaloosa counties.

I truly believe the urgency of solving the fiscal crisis within PACT is becoming apparent to Alabamians. Among all of the issues that face our state, and that require action by our state’s leaders, PACT is the most urgent. This urgency is due to the PACT Board only guaranteeing tuition payment through the Spring Semester of 2010. Further, the incumbent Treasurer has stated that any further action related to PACT must be taken by the Legislature. Thus, in the upcoming legislative session, beginning in January of 2010, it is incumbent upon the Legislature to assure Alabama’s PACT families that we will honor the contractual commitments of PACT.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve begun hearing from legislators, who also attend the meetings of Save Alabama PACT, that they agree with me that a resolution must be passed in the upcoming legislative session. Months stand between where we are now until that point that a resolution is passed, and PACT families must use this time to secure the legislators’ support.

I believe the work of Save Alabama PACT has been nothing short of admirable and courageous. Each PACT function that I attend, I express my sympathy for those families having to attend a meeting of such a nature that they never foresaw when they first enrolled their children in PACT. I also tell them that they, not any elected official, will be the unlikely heroes who save PACT through their activism and courage in refusing to be victimized.