The Alabama CHOOSE Act may sound good, but is it really?

By Stacia Durst – March 3, 2025

A Little History

Efforts to direct tax dollars into private and private religious schools are not a new phenomenon in the United States. In 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant called for a constitutional amendment to mandate free public schools and prohibit the use of public money for religious schools. Grant laid out his reasoning for "good common school education" and opposed "sectarian schools," declaring that Church and State should forever be separate. Grant felt that religion should be left to churches, families, and private schools, not public schools.

After Grant’s speech, Republican James G. Blaine proposed a constitutional amendment that essentially stated that no state should make any law for the support of public schools or public lands to be under the control of religious sects, nor should any money raised by states be used by religious sects or denominations. This proposed amendment passed the House in a 180-7 vote but failed to get the required two-thirds majority in the Senate; therefore, it did not pass. Supporters of Blaine’s amendment then turned to their states, where they had much more success. All but 12 states passed laws to ban the use of public funds to support private religious schools, and Alabama was one of them and still is.

Constitution of Alabama 2022 ARTICLE IV, Sec. 73:

Appropriations to charitable or educational institutions not under absolute control of state.

No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educational institution not under the absolute control of the state, other than normal schools established by law for the professional training of teachers for the public schools of the state, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house.

Constitution of Alabama 2022 ARTICLE XIV, Sec. 263:

School funds not to be used for support of sectarian or denominational schools.

No money raised for the support of the public schools shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian or denominational school.¹

Yes, you read that right. It is against the constitution of Alabama for tax dollars to support religious schools, so how did this law get passed? Perhaps Section 9 was written because our leaders knew it was unconstitutional, hoped it would not be challenged, and wanted to shift the responsibility and cost of litigating it to the citizens of Alabama.

Section 9 of the Creating Hope and Opportunity for our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act: “If any part of this act is challenged as violating either the state or federal constitutions, parents of eligible students and participating students shall be permitted to intervene as of right in the lawsuit for the purposes of defending the constitutionality of the program.”²

Project 2025

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 strongly promotes “universal school choice,” which aims to allow parents to use taxpayer funds to send their children to private schools or other educational alternatives. Ultra-conservative Republicans across the country have wasted no time in attempting to implement this portion of Project 2025 at the state level, in their efforts to privatize education, based on the idea that it would improve educational outcomes. More on that later.

Several states have already passed their own laws to expedite this goal, and Alabama is no exception. Governor Kay Ivey stated the following in her 2024 State of the State address: “Passing an education savings account bill…is my number one priority.” Alabama’s deeply conservative Legislature quickly made that a reality by passing the CHOOSE Act early in the session and fast-tracking it to Governor Ivey’s desk, where she signed it into law in March 2024.

CHOOSE Act

The Creating Hope and Opportunity for our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act, signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey on March 7, 2024, is essentially a school voucher system, also known as an education savings account (ESA). The CHOOSE Act aims to create a refundable income tax credit to help offset the cost of educational expenses. The act directs the Department of Revenue to establish education savings accounts (ESAs) for parents of participating students. This will allow parents to direct their children's education through education service providers and participating schools.

The ESAs will be funded through a new refundable income tax credit, capped at $7,000 for students in participating schools and $2,000 (with a $4,000 family cap) for those not in participating schools. This requires the Legislature to appropriate at least $100 million annually to this fund. The Department of Revenue will initially prioritize students already in the program and those from lower-income families when allocating tax credits. However, the program will eventually expand to all socioeconomic classes, regardless of income, and will include parents who already have their children enrolled in private schools. Therefore, parents already paying private school tuition will now receive a taxpayer subsidy. The law places no limits on the number of families eligible for tax credits, making almost everyone eligible, with one notable exception: undocumented families, even if their child is a U.S. citizen and the parents pay taxes.

Zero Oversight

Under the CHOOSE Act, ESAs are required not to discriminate based solely on grounds of race, color, or national origin in the provision of their services. However, there are no other anti-discrimination requirements. Public schools, by law, are required to accept all students regardless of disability, religion, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Private schools are not, and they often refuse enrollment or expel children who do not adhere to their religious doctrine or who have a disability. Consequently, these students may be stripped of their 1st Amendment rights, Title IX rights, due process, and other rights guaranteed in public schools. These private schools can selectively choose students and discriminate with seemingly no repercussions under this new law. This applies not only to student enrollment but also to the ESA’s practices, hiring policies, and codes of conduct.

While the CHOOSE Act mandates school accreditation, it lacks any provisions ensuring that children receive an equivalent education to that provided in public schools. The standardized testing required in public schools is not required for these ESAs; they can choose their own testing standards. Students with disabilities are completely exempt from any testing, making it impossible to determine any educational gains or losses.

There are no curriculum requirements for ESAs, unlike public schools. Therefore, if a private school teacher or administrator deems biology or civics unnecessary, students will be severely disadvantaged and fall behind their peers. Tax dollars received by ESAs can be spent on any curriculum, including religious indoctrination. There is no oversight or regulation to ensure students are adequately prepared for college entrance exams or higher education. In fact, many students may need to take remedial classes, at their own expense, to enroll in entry-level college courses after graduating from these ESAs.

Students with Disabilities

In 2018, Congress passed a law to provide an additional 50% in federal funds for students with disabilities, as an incentive for states to comply with federal mandates to provide much-needed services to those students. However, recent evidence suggests that educating the average student with disabilities costs nearly 300% more than the current national average per-pupil expenditure.³ Given that ESAs are not required to accept students with disabilities and the significant cost of properly educating them, it is highly unlikely that these students would be accepted, much less receive the appropriate services they need if they were accepted.

Parents who support the CHOOSE Act have reported on social media that they have already encountered difficulty finding a school within the state that would accept their child with a disability. Furthermore, no ESA has been listed on the state’s website as specializing in this much-needed service. It is doubtful that children with intellectual disabilities, speech or language impairments, hearing or visual impairments, physical impairments, emotional handicaps, specific learning disabilities, or autism will ever be able to use the program for their specific educational needs. In fact, the law specifically states on line 287:

“No provision of this act shall be construed to require any public school, school system, or school district or any nonpublic school, school system, or school district to enroll any student.”

ESAs do not receive additional funding for these students but will face a much higher cost to educate them, providing them with zero incentive to do so.

Alabama School Spending

Alabama already spends less than the national average on K-12 education per-pupil and ranks 41st in school spending compared to all other states. Alabama has consistently failed to keep up with inflation in funding our schools since 2009. The state of Alabama currently spends $7,358 each year per student on K-12 education, receives an additional $2,462 from federal funding, and the remaining school funding comes from local governments.⁴ Of course, that additional federal funding could be on the chopping block soon given the current Republican administration’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education, but we will have to wait to see how that plan plays out in the courts to know for sure. Can Alabama public schools afford to lose more funding to these private institutions who have no requirement to service all the state’s students regardless of their status or capabilities?

Conclusions

A well-educated populace is a cornerstone of a thriving and successful nation. It provides a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation and economic growth, leading to increased productivity, higher wages, and a stronger national economy. Education fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and scientific literacy, which are essential for technological advancements and innovation, and allows a nation to remain competitive in the global economy. Furthermore, education empowers individuals to start businesses and create jobs, further stimulating economic activity. Education promotes civic engagement by creating informed citizens who can participate effectively in democratic processes, which leads to better governance and a more stable society. Studies have shown a correlation between education and reduced crime rates, as education provides individuals with opportunities and alternatives to criminal activity. Education equips individuals with the skills and knowledge to adapt to changing economic and technological conditions. A well-educated population attracts foreign investment and fosters international collaboration. Educated parents are more likely to provide their children with a nurturing and stimulating environment, leading to better outcomes for future generations. Education can promote tolerance, understanding, and respect for diversity, fostering social cohesion and reducing social conflict. Additionally, education empowers individuals to make informed decisions about their health and well-being, leading to healthier lifestyles, reduced healthcare costs, and increased life expectancy. In short, investing in public education is an investment in our nation's future. It leads to a more prosperous, stable, and equitable society. We need to guard our public education as if our lives, and our children’s lives, depend on it, because they do!

While having more choices seems advantageous, the 2024 CHOOSE Act most assuredly is not. This new law, straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, is solely an attempt to further dismantle our public educational system and to undermine our security, quality of life, and even our hard-won democracy. It provides no educational advantage to the children of Alabama and is downright discriminatory to some of our minority students. Certain politicians have made comments about how much they “love the poorly educated,” and those politicians, along with their allies, are apparently attempting to ensure they have more “poorly educated” constituents to keep themselves in power, even to the detriment of our beloved nation. These politicians and their cohorts are assuredly not patriots; they are traitors.

Additional Studies Comparing Private Schools to Public Schools

• Empirical evidence from The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that the use of these vouchers leads to racial and economic segregation.⁵

• In 2018, another study found that disadvantaged students who received vouchers for private schools had lower scores in math, reading, science and social studies than disadvantaged students who did not receive the vouchers.⁶

• Research from scholars at the University of Virginia first published online July 9, 2018 indicates that low-income students don’t benefit more from private school than public school.⁷

• Some studies indicate that private school students, on average, score higher on standardized tests. However, these differences are often reduced or eliminated when socioeconomic factors are considered.⁸

• Public schools outperform private schools.⁹

1. https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/constitution

2. https://governor.alabama.gov/assets/2024/02/CHOOSE-Act.pdf

3. Mark Lieberman; (4/27/2023) “How Special Education Funding Actually Works”. Education Week

4. https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics

5. Brunner, Eric J.; et al. (2010). "Universal Vouchers and Racial and Ethnic Segregation". Review of Economics and Statistics. 92 (4): 912–927.

6. Abdulkadiroğlu, Atila; Pathak, Parag A.; Walters, Christopher R. (2018). "Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?". American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.

7. https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/private-school-low-income-students/

8. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2006461.pdf

9. Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Lubienski; (2013) "The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools"