Local PACT participants will have a chance to voice their concern of the current issues associated with the program at a meeting Tuesday, March 24 at 10 a.m. at the State Capitol Auditorium.

Terry Calcote, a PACT contract holder has been working with other contract holders to get the word out to others to attend the meeting.

“Without a doubt, there are folks in the Troy area and beyond who have invested in PACT for their children,” he said.

Calcote said anyone with a PACT contract has money at stake to lose, so it’s vital that as many people as possible attend the meeting.

“In my case, there is approximately $10,500 representing two PACT contracts that I purchased in 1992 for (my children) who are now 19 and 18,” Calcote said.

According to Calcote, his oldest child is scheduled to enroll at Auburn University for the fall semester.

Still, he says, other contract holders stand to lose amounts that range even higher than the more than $10,000 he and his family could lose.

So, what exactly is the benefit of attending the PACT meeting Tuesday?

“Strength in numbers, at a time when governmental elections are next year,” Calcote said.

“The treasurer’s office has given limited information in recent weeks, and clearly it isn’t in their best interest politically to have a large, unnerved constituency in their midst,” he added.

This crisis also puts our state government in a very uncomfortable, very accountable, very solution-demanded position, Calcote said.

“This has become a huge grassroots movement, involving parents and grandparents from throughout the state who are beyond concerned,” Calcote said. “They’re demanding accountability, but more importantly now, immediate legislative action to assign monies to the ailing PACT program, for the immediate benefit of those PACT collegiates currently enrolled and for the high school seniors and junior college transfers that are enrolling in the upcoming summer and fall semesters.”