MONTGOMERY, Ala. –Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, said he intends to soon file what he considers to be the “strongest school choice bill in the nation,” this time with new support.
During the 2023 legislative session, Yarbrough and Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, sponsored the PRICE Act, which would have used money from the state’s public education budget to allow parents to send their children to private school, other public schools or home school. Money would be deposited into what are known as education savings accounts.
Under the proposal, parents would receive nearly $7,000 a school year, the same amount the state spends per student in public school, on average.
While support for expanding school choice, including ESAs, has grown among mostly Republican lawmakers in Alabama, as well as from Gov. Kay Ivey, the PRICE Act never became law, with some legislators taking issue with the lack of accountability measures included in the bill to ensure student academic progress.
The new bill will be largely the same as its previous form and Yarbrough said 2024 is the right year for it to pass.
“Gov. Ivey said she wants Alabama to be the most ‘school choice friendly state in the nation,’ and I’m here to help her deliver that to the people of our state,” Yarbrough said. “We have the opportunity to maximize freedom in education and equip parents to choose what is best for their children.”
On accountability measures, Yarbrough said that the bill would not require private institutions receiving tax dollars from parents’ ESA to administer any government-mandated tests, arguing that doing so would encroach on private school curriculums.
“If we say a school has to administer a test, that means we are telling them what they have to teach,” he said. “The goal of school choice is to create freedom in education, not increase government involvement and control in education.”
Some Republican lawmakers had holdouts about the proposal, including Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the chair of the House Education Policy Committee.
“I believe if we’re going to use tax dollars for things, we need to have some form of accountability to know that the children are learning and are moving forward,” Collins told ADN Friday.
“That does not necessarily mean the state test; most of the scholarship accounts that we (already) have, (they use a) national norm test so that those families can see how their school is doing. That (way), they can make good comparisons to make sure that they’re making progress.”
Democratic lawmakers remain divided on the idea of creating ESAs.
Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, for instance, told Alabama Daily News that so long as the proposal could demonstrate positive outcomes for education, he would consider supporting it. Others, like Rep. Curtis Travis, D-Tuscaloosa, were more outspoken in their opposition to the idea.
“We need to invest more into our public schools and teacher salaries, we need to quit using this excuse and fighting from the standpoint of school choice, school vouchers and even people that are home schooling,” Travis told ADN Friday. “Parents are welcome to make that choice (to home school), but it is their choice to meet those obligations, not the state.”
Stutts also has a near-identical bill to Yarbrough’s that he plans on filing during the 2024 legislative session, though told ADN he wouldn’t be opposed to including mandated testing.
Yarbrough’s legislation has the support of the American Action Fund, a Texas-based nonprofit organization that advocates for expanding school choice.
“Adopting school choice for all kids is the number one thing lawmakers can do to improve the quality of education for Alabama’s students,” said Ted Patterson, a vice president at the American Action Fund.
“For too long, we have adopted a one-size-fits-all approach to American education. When schools and educators compete for students this drives innovation and ultimately success in all sectors of society. School choice improves educational outcomes across the board.”
While ESAs have grown in their support from prominent members of the Legislature, as well as from Ivey, their opposition remains, including from the entire Alabama House Democratic Caucus, as well as from David Bronner, CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama.
The legislative session starts Feb. 6.