In 2013, the Alabama State Legislature passed the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) and amended it in 2015, establishing a statewide scholarship program for low income students to attend public or private schools. This program is funded by a tax credit program and scholarships are managed by the Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) which must comply with the rules and standards of the AAA. Students who qualify to receive these scholarships must meet the family income eligibility requirements. Priority is given to students who attend a “failing public school” that is chosen by the Alabama State Department of Education. The Alabama State Department of Revenue oversees the AAA to implement who is awarded the scholarship. The schools that accept the scholarship students must annually test the students with the achievement test or test them in their learning skills in math and language arts. The purpose of these tests is to assess the learning gains for scholarship recipients and to provide a means of comparing scholarship recipients to students who attend Alabama public schools.
This will be a significant change to the way Alabama will distribute the money for public schools. Instead of funding being based on daily attendance, it would try to match the resources where there are needs. This is the first major change in thirty years. Although it is still in the “talking” stage, it is an approach other States are using that has proved to be helpful to students who live in poverty and/or those with physical or learning disabilities. This could also mean a bigger piece of the pie for rural public schools. The Alabama Legislature has also done some wise things with recent financial windfalls, putting a ton of funding behind pay raises for experienced teachers and investing in reading programs.
However, given the past practice of the Alabama Legislature, is this something that we can trust? In 2013, when the Alabama Accountability Act was approved it was meant to take money out of the Education Trust Fund and create a “failing school” list. Although no one actually voted for that, the Republican majority in our Legislature still approved it. Then in 2020, the white Republicans from rural and suburban districts tried to stop a majority Black city from making their choice to serve the children in the district. Last year, a quick move to divert over $100 million in taxpayer money to fund public schools was given to private schools for tuition. This was from the $9.3 billion from the Educational Trust Fund.
In 2021, the Board of Education voted to ban the teaching of critical race theory, an academic framework used in college and graduate programs to understand the persistence of racism in American society. Critical race theory is not taught at the K-12 level in Alabama schools. The Alabama State Board of Education just last month reviewed a proposed new course of study for social studies. If adopted, it would be the first update to the standards in over a decade. This has not been approved by the Board as of this date, however if approved, it would update curricula, expand elective options and require schools to teach the Holocaust. The course of study also shifts teaching of the Civil Rights Movement, with fifth grade building context and expanding on Alabama’s role in the Civil Rights Movement.
Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, children who have not attended a formal kindergarten program, public or private, will be assessed to make sure they’re developmentally ready to enroll in first grade. The idea is to make sure that students will have a meaningful first grade experience and be able to learn alongside their first-grade peers. If a child’s tests show that they are not ready for first grade, the child will still be able to enroll in that grade, however beginning the 2026-2027 school year the child will be placed in kindergarten.
Parents will have increased access to the curricular materials such as books, textbooks, and other information that the teachers use in their classrooms. The Parents’ Right to Know Act requires schools to post materials teachers plan to use at any point during the school year at the start of the school year. Parents and guardians can request additional information and lodge complaints if the teacher does not respond. The complaint process is laid out in the law, instructing parents to file a complaint first with the local superintendent, and if there’s no resolution within 10 days, to take the complaint to the state superintendent.
Lawmakers made big changes to out-of-school suspension, expulsion and alternative school placement processes. The law, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2024, standardizes steps and says all students must be given due process. That means access to evidence, a full description of the alleged violation, a speedy hearing and a right to question witnesses at a minimum, when one or more of those three disciplinary actions is on the table. Students will also have a right to appeal the board’s decision.
Nearly all of the previously mentioned laws impact teachers, but there are a couple of new laws directly aimed at teachers. First is a 2% pay raise and that’s for all education employees, not just teachers. The starting salary for a teacher went up way more than 2%, to $47,600, from $44,226 for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree. Gov. Kay Ivey said she wants Alabama’s starting teacher salary to be the highest of our neighboring states. This is true for now but not for long. Tennessee’s governor just signed into law a bill that will raise starting teacher salaries to $50,000 by 2026. Paraprofessional educators who become certified teachers will now get one year of credit for every two years they worked as paraprofessionals in schools. So if a person worked as a paraprofessional for 10 years and then became a certified teacher, their starting pay would be based on a teacher with five years of experience. Lawmakers failed to pass a bill giving teachers paid parental leave. Currently teachers have to build up sick leave or take unpaid leave. If a teacher takes unpaid leave, the teacher has to cover the full cost of their health insurance premium until they return to work.
The School Security Act became on Oct. 1, that creates a full range of safety requirements including having a designated district safety coordinator who does everything from attending multiple trainings to stay on top of current trends and concerns to coordinating an annual meeting of local public safety officials. Maps of each school building will be created and updated by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and those maps will be standardized and shareable with appropriate law enforcement and safety personnel. School districts will be inspected at least once every five years. The inspectors will help officials identify weaknesses and how to make their buildings safer.
Lawmakers passed two laws aimed at student safety. The first law requires public schools to conduct fentanyl prevention and drug awareness programs to students in grades six through 12. That begins with the 2024-25 school year. The second law, effective beginning in the 2025-26 school year, pertains to public and nonpublic schools and requires officials to create an emergency response plan if an individual has a cardiac emergency on school grounds. Schools must have an emergency response team and must stay trained in how to use Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
The Alabama Legislature struck a major blow against public education this session by passing the CHOOSE Act. This law likely will drain hundreds of millions of dollars annually from public schools that have long struggled with underfunding. Alabama Arise testified twice against the bill, but conservative lawmakers moved quickly to enact it.
The HB 129 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville will divert at least $100 million every year from Alabama’s public schools. The law creates “education savings accounts” for parents to pay for private schools 2025 and 2026, only families with incomes at or below 300% of the federal poverty level will be eligible. But starting in 2027, the accounts will be available to all parents, no matter how wealthy the participating families are, and regardless of whether their children have ever attended public schools.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, Alabama will establish annual refundable tax credits of up to $7,000 per child for children enrolled in private schools and of up to $2,000 per child for children who are homeschooled. A refundable tax credit means parents whose children attend private school or who are homeschooled could receive more in private school vouchers than they pay in income taxes.
The bill establishes a CHOOSE Act Fund, which can accumulate as much as $500 million for private schools and homeschooling. That money otherwise would fund public education. Schools receiving these funds would have to meet licensure and testing requirements but would not have to use the same standardized tests that public schools do. Participating schools are required not to discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin. But the new law does not explicitly forbid discrimination on the basis of gender or gender identity. Participating schools also do not have to conform to admission or hiring policies, meaning they can deny admission to children with special needs and can hire uncertified teachers. Participating schools also are allowed to impose religious practices and criteria.
Lynda Kirkpatrick
Marion County Democratic Party Chair
SDEC Rep HD 17 Alabama Democratic Party