MIAMI — Alabama Representative H. Mac Gipson Jr. of Prattville was elected the chair of the Southern Regional Education Board’s Legislative Advisory Council here at a meeting that brought together legislators from 16 states to develop ways to improve education throughout the South.
Representative Gipson takes over the official leadership of the 52-member SREB Legislative Advisory Council, the largest standing advisory group to the Board. The council meets regularly to give guidance to Board programs and address current education topics. Gipson has served on the Board since 2000 and is the first Alabama lawmaker to chair the LAC in the SREB panel’s 51-year history. He replaces state Senator Roman W. Prezioso Jr. of West Virginia, whose term as chair expired.
Other SREB Board members from Alabama include Governor Bob Riley; State Superintendent of Education Joseph B. Morton; Sandra Sims-deGraffenried, the executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards; and Caroline D. Novak, president of the A+ Education Foundation.
For more information about Representative Gipson’s new post or for details on the topics state legislators addressed at the annual SREB Legislative Work Conference last week, please contact SREB Communications.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
