Alabama charter schools seek share of county taxes in court

Eleven Alabama public charter schools are asking a Montgomery circuit judge to block the state superintendent of education from finalizing annual countywide property tax distributions to other public schools until the court decides whether charter schools are entitled to a share of those funds.

Montgomery Circuit Judge Monet Gaines heard arguments earlier this week on the schools’ request for a temporary restraining order and gave both sides three days to submit a proposed order. She did not indicate when she may issue a ruling.

Subscribe to The Alabama Baptist today!

SIGN UP for our weekly Highlights emails.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 5, seeks to direct Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey to include charter schools in his instructions to county revenue commissioners for how countywide property taxes should be distributed among public school districts. Those distributions are made at the county level and can begin as early as the start of the fiscal year, Oct. 1.

Attorneys for the schools argue Alabama law requires countywide property taxes to be distributed among all public schools — including public charter schools — but that Mackey has not included them in his previous annual instructions since becoming superintendent in 2018. Alabama’s charter school law was passed in 2015 and has been amended multiple times.

The complaint claims Mackey has acted in an “arbitrary and capricious manner” by leaving charter schools off those lists.

Five counties

The schools involved in the suit are located in five counties:

• • Jefferson County
    • Empower Schools of Alabama
    • Magic City Acceptance Academy
    • Freedom Preparatory Academy
    • Legacy Preparatory School
    • Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School
  • Sumter County
    • University Charter School
  • Mobile County
    • Acceleration Day and Evening Preparatory Academy
    • Covenant Academy
    • Floretta P. Carson Visual and Performing Arts Academy
  • Montgomery County
    • LEAD Academy
  • Perry County
    • Breakthrough Charter School

The schools’ attorneys note that i3 Academy in Birmingham is the only public charter school currently included in a countywide distribution.

Mackey’s Sept. 10 response calls the schools’ claims “unfounded,” arguing they are seeking “to be funded at a higher level than the law allows and at a higher level than other public schools.”

Full story.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.