GULF SHORES, Ala. – In a unanimous vote to thunderous applause, the Gulf Shores City Council approved a resolution to give nearly $1 million to help fund a local schools initiative.

The vote comes a week after Angie Swiger, President of the Baldwin County School Board and the representative for schools on the island, made a “Learning for Life” presentation.

Swiger is with the Coastal Baldwin Education Enrichment Foundation that was formed to improve schools on Pleasure Island.

The plan includes increasing technology in the schools – digital renaissance – and career academies to begin early on steering students toward a career field.

The proposal asks for $988,000 and includes Mac computers for elementary and middle school students, which is more than $600,000 of the money. The amount would be paid in four payments with $387,757 for the first year, $236,977 for the second year and $181,977 for the third and fourth years.

The money will come from the city’s general fund.

Orange Beach was asks for $550,000 with the bulk, more than $440,000, to be spent on computers. It was also presented as a four-year installment plan.

Orange Beach has yet to act on the request, but is considering a resolution of support for the plan. It will vote on that resolution at Tuesday’s council meeting.

City leaders are seeking more data supporting the programs before committing money.

“We’re stewards of the taxpayer dollar and we expect that we have all the objective information to make the correct decision about funding,” Mayor Tony Kennon said at a recent meeting.

In an email sent to the Islander on Sunday, Swiger said data has been forwarded to the mayor and other city officials.

“Since last week’s meeting at (Gulf Shores), I sent the (Orange Beach) Mayor and Council the answers to all questions that I received regarding the program including statistics on the successes of the digital renaissance and the career academy concept nationwide,” Swiger wrote.

On Tuesday Yolanda Johnson, also with CBEE, made a presentation on how the program would help business.

“The common denominator for business development, community development and economic development is education,” Johnson told the council during a slide presentation. “How do we attract businesses with high-paying jobs? What has a strong impact on economic growth? Why are real estate values higher in one place than the other?

“The answer to all three is education.”

An enthusiastic council in Gulf Shores wholeheartedly backed the plan. Councilman Jason Dyken has been its most ardent proponent.

Dyken said the digital renaissance part of the program is not a new concept, but this plan, he says, will combine the new technology with the career academy concept to make the program unique.

“The computers are important, but they’re just a tool,” Dyken said. “A tool that the teachers and the school can use to engage our students in a program to enhance curriculum that advances academic placement curriculum, it advances their introduction into foreign languages. It uses, really, a whole new way of teaching.

“Hats off to everyone who is participating. And, hats off to the teachers and the administrators who have the guts to implement this because change is hard. But if you don’t change, there’s no way for us to move forward.”

“I think we’re on the leading edge of combining those two and taking the career academy to a whole new level,” Councilwoman Carolyn Doughty said.

Mayor Robert Craft cited the teamwork of his city and the Baldwin County Board of Education in the effort and said the first step was the county getting computers into the hands of Gulf Shores High School students.

“This is a definitely a partnership between the cities and the board of education,” Craft said. “The board has pushed hard for this and providing computers to the high school is the opportunity that allows us to go forward with the enhancement of that.”