Voters elected to keep language requiring separate schools for black and white students intact within the Alabama Constitution by rejecting Amendment 4 on Tuesday, responding to outcry from educators and legislators that argued the amendment did not go far enough in its attempts to rewrite the state's most powerful document.

Federal law has since made the controversial language, which also requires the levy of a poll tax, legally obsolete. But the amendment's supporters had argued that the language sent the wrong message about Alabama to individuals and entities outside the state.

The amendment's opponents say any eventual rewrite should also eliminate the phrasing that denies Alabamians' constitutional right to an education.

Henry Mabry, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, viewed Tuesday's result as a vote for educational access.

"The defeat of Amendment 4 should send a clear message to Montgomery that the rights of our school children to a public education should stand," Mabry said Tuesday. "Alabama spoke tonight, and the state's people said they value a public education for our children."

By twice rejecting amendments that would strike controversial language - one that would eliminate phrasing about the right to a public education, and one that would not - it appears Alabama prefers the status quo to the danger of unintended legal consequences that may come with reform, said Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham.

"Alabama seems to be pretty satisfied with the language in the Constitution," Newton said.

Secret ballots, legislator pay

The passage of Amendment 7 enshrines the right to a secret ballot vote as a "fundamental" one in the state's Constitution. Alabama AFL-CIO President Al Henley was not surprised by the amendment's passage, which opponents said was aimed at making it more difficult for unions to organize.

The passage of Amendment 8 sets state legislators' base pay at Alabama's household median income, which was $41,415 in 2011. After including mileage and per diem expense reimbursements, the amendment is expected to reduce the average legislator's pay by more than $7,000 when it takes effect in 2014, according to an estimate from the Legislative Fiscal Office.

However, the pay cut only gives back a portion of a controversial raise legislators elected to give themselves in 2007, before which time legislators earned about $36,660.