Alabama Social Studies SS24.AS.19
The Standard
Describe the relationship between Alabama’s state government and local governments, considering the concept of home rule and Dillon’s Rule.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain that Alabama cities and counties get their powers from the state. They compare home rule, which allows some local decisions, with Dillon’s Rule, which limits local governments to powers the state grants.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a proposed county tax or city zoning change, students can check whether state law allows it. They can explain why a county might need new state approval while a city can act under authority it already has.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think cities and counties have the same powers, or that an elected local government can make any rule it wants. Others think Dillon’s Rule stops all local action, rather than limiting it to powers granted by the state.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: An Alabama county proposes a new tax without state authorization. Can the county commission approve it alone? Explain why or why not.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards labeled Alabama Legislature, state law, city council, county commission, and local ordinance; have them draw arrows showing where local authority comes from.
Ask students to write a reply to a resident who says, “Our county can pass any tax it wants because we elected the commissioners.”
Read aloud two scenarios, a county tax without state approval and a city zoning change under existing state authority; students hold up “allowed” or “not allowed” cards.
Show a nearby city council agenda item about zoning; have students identify the local decision and the state-granted authority it would need.
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Related Standards
- SS24.USG.13c
Analyze how Dillon's Rule and Home Rule provisions in Alabama's 1901 Constitution affect local funding procedures and regulations.
- SS24.AS.20b
Differentiate among the types of state bureaucratic bodies in Alabama, including commissions, boards, and agencies.
- SS24.AS.20a
Describe the state court system in Alabama, and explain how the election of judges in Alabama differs from the appointment of judges at the federal level.
- SS24.AS.9
Outline the chronology of Alabama’s path to statehood in the early nineteenth century, including the shifting of capital locations.
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