“I commend Alabama for advancing education freedom statewide with today’s passage of the CHOOSE Act. This legislation promises to open new avenues of opportunity for thousands of families across the state. With its focus on providing choice and flexibility in education, the CHOOSE Act is a significant win for all Alabama families and the growing movement of parental choice that’s sweeping the nation.
“I am grateful to Gov. Kay Ivey, Sen. Arthur Orr and Rep. Danny Garrett for their unwavering commitment to expanding parental choice in Alabama. Their leadership has been instrumental in making the CHOOSE Act a reality, ensuring that families have the power to choose the educational options that best meet their students’ needs.”
About the CHOOSE Act
The CHOOSE Act will provide low-income families with flexible-use scholarships for their children to attend a private school, an out-of-district public school or to customize a homeschool experience. By its third year, the program will extend eligibility to all families in the state.
The legislation ensures that in the program’s first two years, families with household incomes at 300% of the federal poverty level or below (up to $93,600 for a family of four) would be eligible to participate. Beginning in year three, all Alabama students would be eligible to receive an education scholarship account.
Participating students would receive $7,000 for the year; homeschool families would receive $2,000 per participating student, with a maximum of $4,000 per household.
Scholarship funds may be used for qualifying educational expenses, including:
The legislation includes options for academic assessment to measure student progress, allowing participating schools to administer a norm-referenced test, a curriculum-aligned standardized test or a nationally recognized aptitude assessment of the school’s choice. It also protects the autonomy of participating schools to set their own requirements for accepting students and adopting curriculum, striking a balance between school accountability and autonomy.
The legislation requires the legislature to allocate at least $100 million for the program beginning in fiscal year 2025, which could serve more than 14,000 students. It also allows for the legislature to increase appropriations to the program should demand from families increase.
The legislation now heads to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for signature.
