MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A panel of lawmakers shared their thoughts Wednesday on Gov. Kay Ivey’s new school choice bill that would direct tax dollars toward public school alternatives, and in a partisan fashion, were divided on the issue.
Funded to a minimum of $100 million annually, the bill would allow families to use up to $7,000 per year on private schools, and $2,000 for homeschool costs through the creation of education savings accounts, or ESAs. Families would receive a tax credit for their education expenses. The bill was revealed by Ivey on Tuesday during her State of the State address, and was touted as her “number one legislative priority” for this year.
Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, was among three lawmakers featured Wednesday morning as part of Alabama Daily News’ Legislative Breakfast, and touted the bill as a “responsible” way to expand school choice, while still addressing common concerns over ESAs and school voucher programs. Garrett is sponsoring the bill in the House.
“If you are for school choice, you should be happy with this bill because this bill is better than what most states have done; if you are opposed to school choice, then you should be happy with this bill because this bill is a fiscally-proven, responsible way to build that school choice model,” said Garrett, who chairs the House education budget committee.
Funding for the bill in its initial year, Garrett noted, would come from the state’s supplemental education budget, and not cut into the 2025 ETF budget, and thereby not deprive public schools of any funding. For subsequent years, however, Garrett argued that the state had exhibited enough “fiscal strength” in growing the ETF to continually fund the program.
“We’ve got the money to do this; if you look at $100 million to a $9 billion budget, that’s like $1 to $100, we’re not talking about gutting the budget,” he said.
“And if you look at the 75 million students nationwide, there are 300,000 ESA accounts in the whole country; that’s a very small percentage. The take-up rate has not been so dramatic that it’s going to be something we should be overly concerned about.”
Another lawmaker featured on the panel, Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, was far more cautious about Ivey’s proposal, and questioned whether the included accountability measures were sufficient enough to justify directing tax dollars toward private schools.
“I feel like it’s a good stab at some of those things that we were concerned with (like) testing, but when you look at the testing model in there, it’s still apples and oranges,” Drummond said.
“The public school system will still have to use (the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program standardized test), there’s nothing in there to require any kind of equity between public and private school testing. They will be on different types of tests, they can choose whatever national standard test that they would like to.”
Drummond, who serves on the House’s education budget and policy committees, also expressed concerns for the ability of poorer Alabamians in rural communities to make use of ESA, citing common barriers like transportation, health care and a lack of nearby private schools.
“We talk about giving parents another choice, but we have parents out there who are barely making the choice as to where they live and sleep,” she continued.
“What happens to those kids who are in a public school that their parents don’t have the wherewithal to be able to maneuver this maze? And that’s a lot of poor people in Alabama. Those are the things that I’m still concerned with in this bill.”
Drummond also expressed concerns that were the bill passed as is, private schools could simply raise their tuition rates in response to the new pool of money, further reducing the ability of poorer Alabamians to make use of the program.
“I am still concerned with the accountability, (as) we’re taking public tax dollars and infusing them into a private setting; where is the guardrail so that those private school tuition won’t go up and shut folks out?” she said.
“We’re continuously throwing things up against the wall to see if it will stick. I am a big proponent for (the) Numeracy and Literacy (acts), they are working; I have not seen any data across the country from other states where this voucher program is working.”
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, argued instead that the bill included adequate accountability measures, many of which were absent in a previous ESA bill from last year. Orr is sponsoring the new proposal in the Senate.
“Testing is important, and that’s included in there, as well as a requirement that the schools be accredited by an accredited body,” Orr said, who chairs the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee.
“So that’s in there, and we’ll bake in their accountability on the spending of the money, make sure there’s no fraud or trips to Disney World, things like that.”
If approved, the ESA program would begin during the 2025-2026 school year, and would be limited to families making up to 300% of the federal poverty limit, which this year would be $90,000 for a family of four. That income limit would be removed starting in 2027, with the first 500 ESAs awarded each year prioritizing students with special education needs.