The Alabama State Board of Education on May 13, 2021 selected nominees for three open positions on the Alabama Charter School Commission, following procedural explanation from board counsel and an abstention by a board member who cited conflict-of-interest concerns and lack of prior contact with nominees.

Attorney Swan (board counsel) explained the process: for each open seat the governor submitted two nominees and the board must select one of the two. Board members voted by raised hand; where a majority was not initially reached the board re-voted until a nominee received a majority.

Miss Bell announced she would abstain from voting on the first slate and later on the confirmation vote. On the record she explained she had not met the nominees and expressed concern about a potential conflict when a nominee works for an entity that could later apply for a charter; she said she would have preferred prior contact with nominees.

After re-votes the board selected Ty Moody for position 1 (nominees: Ty Moody and Tevin Jones), Paul Moran (transcribed as Paul Morin/Paul Moran) for position 2 (nominees: Paul Moran and Tracy Plummer), and Sydney Rain for position 3 (nominees: Sydney Rain and James Carter Sr.). The selections were then put together in a single motion to confirm the board’s choices to the Alabama Charter School Commission; that confirmation motion passed with recorded abstention(s) and no stated “no” votes on the transcript.

Board members thanked the nominees for their willingness to serve. The transcript shows the board used raised-hand voting to comply with open-meeting practice and that Ms. Nora Thornton recorded vote counts; specific numeric tallies were not fully read into the record for all rounds of voting. Miss Bell’s abstention and explanation were entered on the record; counsel confirmed that by law the governor provides two nominees for each seat and that the board may select one of the two.

The board’s action was procedural: selecting among gubernatorial nominees for appointment to the charter commission. Attorney Swan indicated the board will later ratify the individuals selected following the internal vote-count process.

Outcome: Ty Moody, Paul Moran, and Sydney Rain were selected by board votes for the three open seats on the Alabama Charter School Commission; the board moved and then ratified the selections during the meeting.