Alabama School Funding, Amendment 16 (1955)

Voting on Education Policy Education policy Ballot Measures By state By year Not on ballot Local School bonds Local school tax School budgets School redistricting Local education measures Alabama Constitution Preamble Articles I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI •XII •XIII •XIV • XV • XVI • XVII • XVIII Local Provisions

The Alabama School Funding, Amendment 16, also known as Amendment 16, was on the ballot in Alabama on December 6, 1955, as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. It was defeated. The amendment proposed to amend the constitution. The amendment proposed that the Board of Education of Lawrence County may designate one or more school districts within said County (except that no part of the territory embraced within the special school district established under the provisions of the amendment of the Constitution proposed by Act No. 473 of the regular session of the Legislature of Alabama of 1949 shall be included in any such special school district) and may sell and issue bonds in an amount not exceeding $250,000 for each such special school district, plus such amount as is authorized by Amendment XCIX ratified on December 15, 1953, and proclaimed ratified on December 28, 1953, for the construction, improving, adding to, or equipping of a school building, or buildings, within said district. To pay the principal of and interest on said bonds and any redemption thereon, Lawrence County may levy and collect an annual tax on all taxable property situated within the special school district with respect to which such bonds may be issued, at a rate not in excess of five mills on each dollar's worth of said property as assessed for state taxation for the preceding tax year; provided, that whenever said tax has produced an amount sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on said bonds the tax shall not be thereafter levied and any surplus remaining therefrom shall be used for general school purposes in said school district. The bonds and tax herein authorized shall be in addition to those heretofore authorized, and no such bonds shall be issued, no such tax shall be levied, until the estimated cost of constructing, improving, adding to, or equipping the school building or buildings to be built in such district, its estimated time of completion, the maximum principal amount of the bonds proposed to be issued, the maximum rate of interest to be paid thereon, and the period over which the bonds to be issued will be retired, shall have been determined and made public by the Board of Education of said County, and the proposed issuance of bonds and increase in the rate of taxation shall have been authorized by a majority of the qualified electors of such special school district voting upon such proposal at an election to be held not less than sixty days after the adoption of this amendment, but at anytime thereafter at the discretion of the said County governing body. The election provided herein shall be called, held, conducted and canvassed, and may be contested, as in the case of three mill school tax elections held pursuant to Article 7, Chapter 10, Title 52 of the Code of Alabama of 1940. Any bonds issued pursuant to this amendment shall be payable solely out of the proceeds of said tax which may be pledged therefor, but said bonds shall constitute negotiable instruments although payable from a limited source, and said bonds shall be eligible for the investment of trust funds.

Election results

Alabama Amendment 16 (December 1955)
Result		Votes	Percentage
d No		143,750	71.80%
Yes		56,446	28.20%

Election results via: Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1959

See also

Suggest a link

• Alabama 1955 ballot measures
• 1955 ballot measures
• List of Alabama ballot measures
• History of Initiative & Referendum in Alabama

External links

• Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1959