From Tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY — Alabama State Senator Del Marsh plans to file a bill next week that would radically change school choice options for Alabama students, according to Alabama Daily News.
Marsh told Mary Sell of ADN that the Parents Choice Act would be “the mother of all school choice bills.”
The bill would allow parents to open an education savings account using $6,500 of state funding, the current per pupil funding amount the state sends local school boards. The money could be used by parents to to help with homeschooling expenses, send their child to a private school, or another school district.
The plan would be phased in over three years and an oversight committee would be named to monitor education programs accepting the students. Local school boards would choose whether to accept transfers into their system.
“These are state dollars and those dollars should be available to parents to decide what is best for their children,” Marsh told ADN on Saturday when discussing a draft of his bill. Marsh estimated the bill would send about $420 million dollars in the Education Trust Fund with students as they move to other education options.
You can read the full story at Alabama Daily News here.
School choice for parents has been an important issue sweeping the country over the last two years. Much of the drive is due to restrictions placed on students because of the coronavirus pandemic. Parents have said they feel their concerns have been ignored by local school boards. But parents are also concerned with declining curriculum, social aspects being interjected in public education, and poorly performing public schools.
Alabama public schools are currently ranked last in the United States.
In Virginia, former Democrat governor Terry McAuliffe was defeated by Republican newcomer Glenn Youngkin after McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
In Alabama, longtime opponents of school choice and accountability are expected to oppose this bill as they have previous bills offering more options to students.
The Alabama Education Association (AEA), a staunch opponent of school choice, has been pouring money into the campaigns of elected officials in Montgomery in hopes of persuading lawmakers to vote against school choice options for parents and students.
Since 2013, AEA has opposed the Alabama Accountability Act, the Alabama Literacy Act, and the Alabama School Choice and Student Opportunity Act. The Superintendents Association of Alabama has joined AEA in opposition to each of those bills.