WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |PACT Parents demand answers

PACT Parents demand answers

Posted by Cody Holyoke - bio | email

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Angry and anxious for results, parents entangled in the struggling P.A.C.T. program gathered at Capitol Heights United Methodist Church.

All of them just want to know what's ahead.

"The state has a legal and moral obligation to fulfill its promise made years ago," said Brenda Vaughn of Montgomery.

Vaughn and her husband, Jay, have a son in college and a daughter in middle school. They say her contract is fully paid.

"The funds run out 2015, and that's when she graduates high school," Vaughn explained.

The Vaughns are just two of the thousands of parents in financial limbo.

Groups like Save Alabama PACT host meetings and try to get moms and dads organized and ready for an offensive.

The goal? To be prepared after RSA shares its findings on how to proceed.

"It's to get more people to sign up, to get their friends to sign up, and to get the message out that we can solve this problem," said Kitty Collier, a volunteer for Save Alabama PACT.

The volunteer effort paid off.  Politicians are listening and getting ready to work on the issue.

"This is a prepaid college tuition program.  That's the way it was sold. That's what you bought.  I believe that's what we have to honor," said Republican State Representative Jay Love of Montgomery.

It's an effort parents say couldn't come soon enough.

"We thought that we could trust the State of Alabama to fund our money and watch our money and invest our money wisely for our children's future.  And that does not seem to be the case," Vaughn said.

Lawmakers tell WSFA 12 News they should get some answers when the study comes out within the next two weeks.

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