A little more than a half a day before Athens citizens headed to the polls to vote on a property tax referendum, state auditor Jim Zeigler was on the steps of the Limestone County Courthouse claiming Athens City Schools had violated state laws.

And, it wasn’t long before school officials were holding a news conference of their own.

The point of the meeting, held by Superintendent Trey Holladay and Athens school board attorney Shane Black was straightforward — school officials have done nothing wrong or illegal.

Holladay said he had met with Zeigler Monday morning and discussed accusations being made against Athens City Schools. Holladay believes Monday’s news conference was used as a way for opponents to “grandstand” a day before the special election.

‘Not illegal’

Athens City School Board Attorney Shane Black said, “Earlier today (Monday), some opponents of the capital plan claimed again that it is illegal for the Athens City Schools to advocate for the plan by telling parents about it, putting up signs, and so forth. Let me be clear. According to every Alabama legal authority that has considered this issue over the past decade, from courts and attorneys general alike, there is nothing wrong with that, and in fact, advocating for public education is what our school leaders are supposed to do.

“The Circuit Court in Montgomery County, just last month, threw out a lawsuit by Mr. Zeigler against another school system, and said there was nothing wrong with it. The office of the Alabama attorney general, the chief law enforcement officer in Alabama — including Attorney General Luther Strange and going back to former attorneys general Jeff Sessions, Bill Pryor and Troy King — have on more than one occasion, said that there is nothing unlawful about it.

“We confirmed with Attorney General Strange’s office just this morning that his guidance to local school systems has not changed.

“In fact, the Montgomery Circuit Court said that if the state auditor’s claims were right, then ordinary government functions would be disrupted — for example, ‘the Attorney General could not propose and support a crime bill’ and ‘the secretary of state could not propose and support changes to the state’s voting laws.’

“The bottom line is that if our school officials see a real need for our students and they have a proposal to address that need, we expect them to tell us about that need and about their proposal — that’s their job. We don’t expect them to hide under a rock and not advocate for public education. This is nothing new — school systems have advocated for proposals to benefit the public education for years. People may choose to support this proposal or they may choose not to — but there’s nothing wrong with our school leaders advocating on behalf of it. Again, that’s what we expect them to do.”

Black said he had copies of Montgomery County circuit court’s opinion, Attorney General Strange’s recent court filing on the issue and other attorneys general opinions as well as a statement from the Alabama Association of School Boards.

Superintendent not a politician

“If there is one thing I can say to the parents, students and member of the Athens community — I am not a politician. I am an educator, parent, former football coach and leader of this school system,” Holladay said. “I want what is best for our school system and the future of our schools and students. We have worked for three years to develop a plan to help mend and prepare for the future of our schools. It was done with input from the community and includes the best solutions to fix our problems.”

Holladay said he finds it unfortunate that some have used the special election to fulfill their political agendas and that they do not have the best intentions of the city at heart. “Many fighting against our efforts are not even citizens of our city,” Holladay said. “My only intentions were to present our plan, answer any questions and let the people decide. And I feel like we have done that.

“My vision and role as the superintendent of our school system has not changed. I am not a politician and I did not break any law. We followed the attorney general’s rulings.

“It’s really unfortunate that these opponents used their time today — the time before the election — to come here from Montgomery and make these kinds of political claims when the real decision needs to be about students and this proposal.”

“Folks may be for the proposal,” Black said. “Folks may be against the proposal. But, no laws have been broken here whatsoever.”

Polls open at 7 a.m. and stay open until 7 p.m.