A bill that would create an advanced health care sciences high school in Demopolis passed unanimously in the House Ways and Means Education Committee Wednesday.
“No. 1, the primary reason for doing it, of course, is to address the need for health care workers in our state,” said House Bill 163 sponsor Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa. “We are not unusual in that we have a shortage of health care workers, Alabama’s like most other states.”
Gov. Kay Ivey first proposed the school, expected to cost about $62 million to start up, in her 2023 state of the state address. Some lawmakers balked at the cost and the rural location and last year ordered a feasibility study, which was completed early this year and supported the Demopolis location.
In January, Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged $26.4 million to the residential high school, pending state investment.
Ivey in February proposed spending $30 million from a supplemental education spending bill on the project, but the House committee that approved the proposal moving forward earlier in the week reduced the amount to $20 million. Chairman Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, previously said some other rural health and education needs could be addressed with the $10 million.
“The school is hoping to address a real need in rural healthcare,” Rob Pearson, chairman of the Alabama School of Health Care Sciences Foundation, told Alabama Daily News. “Studies show that if you train students in a rural environment, they’re more likely to stay in a rural environment when they get out of school.”
The school would be located adjacent to Bryan W. Whitfield Hospital allowing for firsthand experience for high school aged students.
“It really gives us an opportunity to teach a lot of different things as advanced as robotic survey, for goodness sake to all the different areas of the hospital that big hospitals have,” Pearson said.
“They were very excited about the concept and the ability to hopefully recreate this model, really nationwide,” Almond said.
If the legislation becomes law, this will be the fourth specialized, residential school in the state, but the first in a rural community. Others are in Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville.
“Our goal is for this (is) to send students back into the four corners of the state and make an impact in their rural communities,” Pearson said.
This bill passed the committee unanimously and now awaits a vote on the House floor.