By Chip Brownlee
Alabama Political Reporter
House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, has appointed State Rep. Corley Ellis, R-Columbiana, to the influential committee responsible for writing the Education Trust Fund budget, which appropriates more than $6 billion in funding for Alabama’s public schools and colleges.
Ellis will serve as the House Ways and Means Education Committee’s newest Republican member.
“Rep. Ellis possesses a deep commitment to public education and a keen businessman’s eye to the financial bottom line, the combination of which make him well-qualified to serve on the budget committee,” McCutcheon said in a statement. “I am confident he will render valuable service to the parents, students, educators, and administrators across the spectrum of Alabama’s public education system.”
The committee drafts the budget for annual funding to Alabama’s K-12 public schools, community colleges, and public colleges and universities.
Ellis said he looks forward to his new committee assignment.
“As a businessman, I understand that our students must be well-prepared to compete for jobs and opportunities in the 21st Century workforce, so I will work hard to ensure that all of our public education resources are spent wisely,” Ellis said in a statement. “Alabama has made significant progress in the area of education over the past several years, and I will do everything in my power as a member of the education budget committee to continue those advances in the years to come.”
Ellis will take the place of the late State Rep. Jim Patterson, who died in early October at age 67. Ellis will continue in his post on the House Committee on Fiscal Responsibility.
Ellis was elected to the House of Representatives in a 2016 special election and served on the Shelby County Commission for a decade before his election. He chaired that government panel for two years and is the owner of Ellis Properties, Inc., a real estate firm in Columbiana.
