Alabama Planning The “Ultimate” School Choice Legislation
Alabama Senator Del Marsh, R-Anniston, calls it the “ultimate” school choice bill. Another sponsor of the bill dubbed it “the mother of all school choice bills.” Regardless of verbiage choice, the bill that is to be filed today, February 1, 2022, will be a head-turner and give Alabama parents power they have never had before as it concerns their children’s education.
Alabama Senator Del Marsh, R-Anniston, calls it the “ultimate” school choice bill. Another sponsor of the bill dubbed it “the mother of all school choice bills.” Regardless of verbiage choice, the bill that is to be filed today, February 1, 2022, will be a head-turner and give Alabama parents power they have never had before as it concerns their children’s education.
Sen. Marsh’s proposed bill would allow parents access to money that the state would have otherwise used to pay for their child’s public education. Last year that figure sat around $6,300 and this year the figure is expected to rise to $6,500. If the school choice bill is passed and parents obtain control of those funds, they can then apply it to other options for their children which include private schools as well as options for homeschooling.
“There’s an overwhelming desire across this country and Alabama as well by parents wanting to make more decisions for their children’s education,” Marsh said to AL.com. “This is the ultimate bill to do that. It allows a parent to choose public school, private school, homeschool, a combination of vocational school — it puts that power in the parents’ hands.”
Marsh then went on to explain the educational system problems the COVID pandemic has uncovered. “COVID brought to light a lot of problems in education,” he continued. “In the times we live in, there are so many choices. And parents should have control over those choices.”
As it stands currently, only eight states have laws that allow for Education Savings Accounts (ESA). These accounts allow parents to access funds for their child’s educational benefit. In all eight states combined, only around 31,000 students are using an ESA, says EdChoice, a company that supports and also tracks the school choice programs across the country.
ESAs are very similar to school vouchers in that the funds can be directly accessed by qualified families. But where ESAs differ from school vouchers is that an ESA can be used for more than just paying for tuition. “These are state dollars and those dollars should be available to parents to decide what is best for their children,” said Marsh to the Alabama Daily News about his school choice bill.
Prior to the introduction of the “ultimate” school choice bill, Sen. Marsh sponsored a bill that created public charter schools. This bill also created a tax credit scholarship program in which third-party tax-deductible contributions were turned into scholarships for income-eligible families. Marsh attempted to expand the effort, but the bill failed. This year, close to 3,000 students have received a tax credit scholarship to help them attend public schools whose districts they don’t live in or so they can attend private schools.
“There is plenty of money out there,” Marsh said about the affordability of his bill. He said there was a significant surplus in the education budget and federal relief funds (around $3 billion). Marsh acknowledges that his state is spending more money on a public education system that is not producing good numbers. Not even average numbers. Marsh says enrollment is down across the state and test rankings are at the very bottom or close to it.
“The perception is that Alabama doesn’t care about education,” Marsh said. “I think that’s a very dangerous place to be, especially when you’re trying to improve your economy, improve your quality of life.” Marsh intends on showing everyone just how much Alabama cares about its children.
The first ESAs, according to Marsh’s proposed school choice bill, would be available at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year. Applications for the ESA would become available on May 1 and would allow for any student currently enrolled in a public school or being homeschooled to apply.
The pool of eligible students would then grow in 2023-24 and include students who are already in private schools whose family income does not go over the federal poverty level by 200%. Then, in 2024-25, all students would be eligible. Any parent who wants their child to participate in the program must first sign an agreement with the Parents’ Choice Program governing board. This agreement says the parents will only use the funds for expenses related to their child’s education.
Sen. Marsh is fully confident he has full support behind his bill. With its introduction today, Marsh expects the Senate Education Policy Committee to approve the bill tomorrow, Wednesday, February 2. This “ultimate” school choice bill looks like it has momentum, which is only great news for parents.
