Alabama’s school choice landscape looks very different today than it did in 2013, when the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) Scholarship Program launched.
That is a good thing.
The CHOOSE Act has opened the door to educational savings accounts giving Alabama families greater flexibility to choose the educational environment that works best for their children. It is an important step forward for a state that increasingly recognizes that one-size-fits-all education does not work for every student.
But as Alabama’s school choice options grow, there is an important distinction that should not get lost: the CHOOSE Act did not replace the AAA Scholarship Program.
These are separate programs, serving families in different ways. And understanding that distinction matters because thousands of Alabama students continue to rely on AAA scholarships.
The AAA Scholarship Program has been helping eligible Alabama students access educational opportunities through taxpayers who redirect a portion of their state income tax liability and receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit in return.
The program remains critically important because the need for educational choice did not disappear when the CHOOSE Act became law.
Consider the story of Maleah Tigner.
Maleah attended Chambers Academy beginning in first grade as an AAA Scholarship recipient. Over the years, the school provided the consistency and supportive environment that allowed her to thrive. This year, she became Chambers Academy’s first African American valedictorian.
Her story is about much more than a scholarship. Maleah’s success inspired her father to earn his high school diploma, creating a ripple effect that reached beyond one student and into her family.
That is what school choice looks like when we move beyond policy debates and look at the students themselves.
It also looks like Renaissance School of the Eastern Shore that was created to serve students with learning differences through an educational environment designed around their individual strengths and needs. Students are supported through both the CHOOSE Act and tuition made possible through the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund.
That combination has helped provide stability for the school while giving students access to an environment where they can regain confidence, make academic progress and begin to see possibilities for their futures that once seemed out of reach.
This is why it is important to resist the temptation to view Alabama’s school choice programs as competing programs, or to assume that the arrival of one makes another unnecessary.
They can work together.
And Alabama is about to have another opportunity to expand educational choice.
Beginning January 1, 2027, the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) will give eligible taxpayers another way to support educational opportunity. The program will provide a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per tax return for contributions supporting scholarships, while also creating an opportunity for participating donors to direct their contributions to a specific school.
EFTC funds can help cover expenses beyond tuition, including tutoring, instructional materials, educational therapies and other approved learning costs. And those benefits are not limited to private school students. Public schools and public charter schools can also use EFTC funds to help offset eligible costs such as after-school programs, field trips, or activity fees. Even homeschool families can use EFTC funds to help supplement funds for curriculum other expenses.
Most importantly, the EFTC is designed to complement Alabama’s existing programs, including the AAA Scholarship Program and the CHOOSE Act. The programs can be stacked, allowing families to combine EFTC-funded scholarships with CHOOSE Act ESA funds or AAA scholarships to expand access and make educational opportunities more affordable.
That is the bigger story unfolding in Alabama.
We are moving from a school choice landscape with limited options toward one where families may have multiple tools to help create an educational experience that fits their children. For some families, that may mean an education savings account. For others, it may mean an AAA scholarship. And EFTC will allow a family to combine available resources to address tuition, fees, tutoring or specialized services.
At the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund, we see every day why that matters. We hear from parents who know their child needs something different. We see students who flourish when they find the right environment. And we see schools that can serve more students because families have additional ways to afford them.
School choice is ultimately not about choosing one program over another. It is about recognizing that Alabama’s students have different needs, and their families deserve meaningful options for meeting those needs.
Because when we talk about expanding school choice, we are not really talking about programs. We are talking about giving more students the opportunity to find the school, support and educational environment where they can succeed.
That is an opportunity worth continuing to build on.