For more than a decade, Alabama lawmakers have pushed public schools for more accountability: More testing, more transparency and a sharper focus on student outcomes. But under the state’s new CHOOSE Act school choice program, that responsibility won’t apply to private schools.
Instead, the law leaves it to parents to monitor how well the independent schools — now receiving public funds — are serving their children. Supporters say the shift is intentional, reflecting a belief that parents, not government, should decide what educational success looks like.
“People today are looking at every aspect of their lives about customization, flexibility and choice,” House Education Budget Chairman Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, told Alabama Daily News. “A lot of things have driven these changes.”
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‘Different direction’
“I had to get across in my mind that if a parent, a person, chooses to go a non-traditional route, that they have that freedom and that right to do that. And if they do that, and they remove themselves from under the purview of the government umbrella of public education — that’s a decision that they made.”
“And because of the changing thought about customization, flexibility and choice and the fact that their tax dollars can now be used to support these choice options, an alternative route … it’s not our responsibility now to monitor that child or that family, because they’ve made a decision to go a different direction.”
The CHOOSE Act does require private schools enrolling students with ESAs to administer annual tests and submit results to the Alabama Department of Revenue. However, there is no requirement for ALDOR to analyze or publicly report those scores.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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