A public school option in Alabama’s CHOOSE Act education savings account went unused in the program’s first year. Now, some public school districts are preparing to make it available.
Ten public school districts are currently listed by the Alabama Department of Revenue as participating in the state’s education savings account program, which allows eligible families to use education savings account funds to pay tuition when students attend public schools outside their home districts.
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The law has allowed ESA funds to be used for out-of-district public school tuition since the program was created, but public schools must charge tuition and opt in before families can use the funds that way. However, according to data from ALDOR, no public school students used ESAs to attend public schools for the current school year.
Senate Education Budget Chairman Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said the public-to-public school option was one of the choices lawmakers intended to create when they passed the law.
“It’s not always leaving public school to attend private school,” Orr said. “This scenario is leaving one public school to attend another public school. It empowers the parents to have more options. And that was one of the fundamental components of passing the law.”
Alabama is unusual in allowing ESA funds to be used at public schools. Other states restrict ESA eligibility to private-school or homeschool students.
Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis said participating in the program made sense for his district, which has long enrolled students who live outside the county’s geographic boundaries.
The district set tuition at $3,000 last May, before participating in the CHOOSE Act program.
Dennis said district officials realized some of those out-of-district students could be eligible for CHOOSE Act funds.
“We have people wanting to come to our system,” Dennis said. “We’re already doing it. Why not get the money for it?”
Orr said he has no objection to public school students using CHOOSE Act funds to pay out-of-district tuition, as long as students using ESAs are charged the same amount as other out-of-district students.
For eligible families, Orr said, the program could help a child leave one public school for another if parents believe the student’s current school is not meeting their needs.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey said he supports public schools that want to open up more choices for students, as long as they follow established rules.
“As long as they are moving within the guidelines established by ADOR, I fully support public schools offering more choice opportunities,” Mackey said. “I think the Legislature and the public have made it clear that they want more varied opportunities from which parents can choose, and we need to be responsive to that.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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