BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — This week, families and educators across Alabama are joining their counterparts nationwide to celebrate National School Choice Week, a movement highlighting the importance of giving families more options in how and where their children are educated.
Events across the state – including rallies at public schools – aim to raise awareness about Alabama’s growing range of choices, from public charter schools to new education savings accounts.
Gov. Kay Ivey has made expanding school choice a big part of her education platform, while also calling for lawmakers to put more money into public schools and invest in bridging education with Alabama’s workforce needs. As in previous years, Ivey issued a proclamation recognizing National School Choice Week.
Alabama is proud to celebrate School Choice Week!
Last year, during my state of the state address, I made passing education savings accounts — the CHOOSE Act — my top legislative priority.
I swiftly signed it into law, and now…CHOOSE Act applications are open! #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/lvYVoXOi9Z
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) January 26, 2025
“Ensuring every student in every zip code receives a quality education is our primary goal in Alabama,” Ivey said. “Expanding school choice, most recently through the implementation of our CHOOSE Act, will give more families the flexibility to choose an education that best suits their child’s individual needs. And when a child succeeds, the state succeeds. Like I say, strong students lead to a strong Alabama.”
While Alabama was slow to embrace school choice, in the past decade, lawmakers have expanded choices beyond traditional public, private and homeschool options to multiple choices among programs, offering families greater flexibility.
School choice supporters emphasize the need for families to be able to choose where their child is educated, particularly in areas with underperforming schools. Critics, however, worry that as state education funds follow students to options outside of traditional public schools, already poorly funded public schools will face even greater challenges providing quality education.
Here’s a timeline of key school choice expansion in Alabama:
Alabama’s school choice timeline
2013: Alabama Accountability Act
- The state’s first school choice initiative, creating tax incentives and scholarships for income-eligible families and students.
- Allows parents zoned to “failing schools,” to take an income tax credit for costs associated with moving their children to private school.
- Allows income-eligible students to access scholarship funds donated by taxpayers who receive dollar-for-dollar income tax credits.
- Income tax credits are currently capped at $40 million, but can increase annually.
- Allows public schools to request flexibility from state laws to offer innovative educational options.
2014: Private and homeschool deregulation
- Lawmakers deregulate private schools and remove a requirement for homeschooling families to have a “cover” school.
2015: Public charter schools authorized to operate in Alabama
- Lawmakers pass the Alabama School Choice and Student Opportunity Act, allowing start-up and conversion charter schools.
- Local boards of education can become charter authorizers, giving them first right to approve or deny charter applications within their district boundaries.
- The Alabama Public Charter School Commission is created to consider applications in non-authorizing districts.
- Seventeen public charter schools are operating in Alabama as of the 2024-25 school year: A full list is here.
2015 : Virtual high school diplomas offering required
- Alabama public schools are required to offer high school students in grades nine through 12 an option to earn a fully virtual or online diploma.
2017: Alabama’s first public charter school opens
- The Acceleration Day and Evening Academy opens in Mobile County with a mission of serving students who are at risk of dropping out or have already dropped out.
2024: CHOOSE Act and education savings accounts are created
- Lawmakers approve the Creating Hope and Opportunities for Our Students in Education Act, creating education savings accounts, or ESAs.
- Established $7,000 ESAs per student for income-eligible families to spend on eligible educational expenses at participating public and private schools.
- Homeschooled students can receive $2,000 per student, capped at $4,000 per family.
- ESAs will launch during the 2025-26 school year.
- Income eligibility guidelines will be removed at the start of the 2027-28 school year.
Other types of school choice in Alabama
Magnet schools
- A handful of school districts operate a total of 39 magnet schools, which students can attend regardless of their zoned school.
- Magnet schools have been around for a long time and were created in the wake of integration to attract students based on the academic offerings of the school. Most of Alabama’s magnet schools are considered gifted and talented, or selective, because they require students to meet a minimum academic requirement, either through testing or academic history.
Specialty schools
- Alabama operates three statewide specialty schools, which are tuition-free, but require students to apply and meet minimum requirements:
- Alabama School of Fine Arts
- Alabama School of Mathematics and Science
- Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering
- Each school offers residential boarding.
- The School of Healthcare Sciences is expected to open in 2026.
School choice by the numbers
Estimates of how many children there are aged 5 to 17 and where they go to school vary, and because Alabama doesn’t keep data on private school or homeschool enrollment, it’s hard to know exactly where all children are educated.
- Public school – 725,000 students in 1,380 schools (includes students below).
- Public charter schools – 8,000 students in 17 public charter schools
- Online/Virtual public school – full-time – 20,000 students in 19 full-time online virtual public schools
- Magnet schools – 16,700 in 39 schools
- Specialty schools – 1,000 students in three schools
- Private school – 82,000 students in 450 to 500 private schools (estimated).
- Homeschool – 42,000 students (estimated at 5% nationally).
About the numbers: Enrollment for public schools are provided by the Alabama Department of Education. Private school numbers are retrieved from the Private School Review website. Homeschool numbers are estimated at 5% nationally; Alabama Daily News estimated the number using that percentage and the U.S. Census Bureau estimate of 840,000 children aged 5 to 17 living in Alabama. The total number of students in public, private and homeschool are higher than the 840,000 estimate, but no total numbers for private or homeschool students exist.