By Jeff Devine
B. McCormick, L. McCormick, and Rachel R. also contributed to portions of this story.
For more than a decade, Alabama lawmakers have demanded stronger accountability from public schools—more testing, greater transparency, and improved student outcomes. But under the state’s new CHOOSE Act, those standards don’t extend to the private schools now receiving taxpayer funds through Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).
Instead, oversight is left largely to parents. Supporters say that shift is deliberate, reflecting a belief that families—not the state—should define educational success.
“People today are looking at every aspect of their lives about customization, flexibility, and choice,” said House Education Budget Chairman Danny Garrett (R-Trussville). “A lot of things have driven these changes.”
Garrett added that when families choose alternatives to public schools, “it’s not our responsibility now to monitor that child or that family, because they’ve made a decision to go a different direction.”
The CHOOSE Act, passed earlier this year, allows families to use $7,000 ESAs per student for private school tuition, materials, and related educational expenses. As of mid-June, more than 14,700 students had been approved, representing more than $103 million in public funds redirected from the state’s Education Trust Fund.
By comparison, Alabama’s Foundation Program, which supports public K-12 schools, provides about $7,800 per student, with an average state contribution of roughly $6,600 once local funding is factored in.
Accountability Tradeoffs and Public Opinion
House Education Policy Chair Terri Collins (R-Decatur) acknowledged that the CHOOSE Act has limited accountability provisions. Private schools accepting ESA funds must administer annual tests and report results to the Alabama Department of Revenue, but the department is not required to analyze or release those scores publicly. Collins said adding more oversight might have discouraged school participation.
“Accountability is important to me,” she said, “but we also want schools to feel encouraged to participate.”
However, findings from the 2025 PARCA Alabama Public Opinion Survey show that many Alabamians are uneasy about the tradeoff. A majority of respondents said they value their local public schools and would rather see investment and improvement in public education than expanded private school options.
The survey also found that most Alabamians believe public funding should come with accountability and transparency, even for private or homeschool settings receiving state dollars.
Frustration Over ESA Access and Spending
Beyond philosophical debates, some parents are encountering practical challenges with the rollout of the program. Families using ClassWallet, the platform managing ESA funds, report confusion, lengthy approval delays, and inconsistent rules on what qualifies as an eligible expense.
While ClassWallet recently expanded its list of approved homeschool items—adding supplies like poster board, paints, protractors, dry-erase boards, and science lab kits—many parents say they’ve struggled to get purchases approved.
One mother said the process was “so time-consuming and confusing” that she felt she needed “to hire someone to walk her through it.” Another parent reported waiting two months and submitting four separate requests before her order was finally approved.
A former teacher turned homeschool parent said persistence and alignment with academic standards helped her succeed:
“I explained how my son’s science kit met Alabama’s first-grade learning standards and cited specific state benchmarks. Once I did that, it was approved.”
Still, some families have reported inconsistent approvals, with identical items accepted for one household but denied for another. Parents said they’ve found no clear explanation for the discrepancies, leading to growing calls for clearer communication and transparency from both the state and ClassWallet.
Educators Sound the Alarm
Longtime educator and administrator Joshua Robertson has voiced deep concern about the CHOOSE Act’s financial and educational implications.
“Everyone deserves a choice in education,” Robertson wrote in a recent opinion piece. “But the facts tell a different story.”
He noted that of roughly 5,000 public school students who applied for ESAs in the program’s first phase, fewer than half activated their accounts, while nearly 70% of applicants were already enrolled in private schools.
“In other words,” Robertson said, “most parents had already made their choice.”
He warned that the program could drain resources from traditional public schools, particularly in rural counties such as Dale, Geneva, and Houston, which have performed strongly in recent years. “It threatens to drain the Education Trust Fund, leaving fewer resources for classrooms that serve the overwhelming majority of Alabama children,” he said.
Robertson also questioned whether promised funds for special needs students are being tracked transparently. “If the goal is to better serve students with disabilities, families and educators deserve transparency on whether those promises are being kept,” he said.
He cautioned that once income caps are lifted, more than 81,000 current private school students could become eligible—costing taxpayers an estimated $570 million even if no student switches schools.
“That is not school choice,” he said. “That is a massive transfer of public dollars to private institutions.” (Robertson’s full op-ed is available for viewing by clicking here.
Experts Call for Balance
National education experts agree that some level of oversight is necessary when taxpayer money is involved. Scott Marion, executive director of the Center for Assessment, said during a recent education writers’ seminar, “If public money is involved, some measure of outcomes is appropriate. It doesn’t make sense to hold public schools accountable for test scores while exempting private schools funded with those same dollars.”
Studies of Alabama’s earlier Alabama Accountability Act, a smaller scholarship program, show little measurable difference between public and private school performance. Researchers at the University of Alabama’s Institute for Social Science Research found few statistically significant academic gains for scholarship students across five separate evaluations.
The Path Forward
As the CHOOSE Act enters its first full academic year, both supporters and critics say adjustments are inevitable. Lawmakers point to parental freedom and innovation, while educators and parents stress the need for fairness, transparency, and efficiency.
Collins maintains that “parents need to make the right choices and follow up on those choices to make sure they continue to be good for the students.”
But Robertson argues that true empowerment comes from strengthening public education, not diverting funds. “Choice without accountability is unfair,” he wrote. “Alabama’s future depends not on weakening our public schools, but on investing in them.”
To read the related Op-Ed by Josh Robertson, click the link below.
