Alabama's new education law represents small but important progress

Dexter Street Baptist Church is a sacred place. Located just one block from the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, from 1954 he was pastored by Martin Luther King Jr. until 1960, and in 1955 he organized the Montgomery bus boycott in his basement office. It's a place. And it's located just a few blocks from the seat of the Alabama state government, where in 1965 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “How Long?” after leading thousands of people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Announced. Speech from the steps of the State House:

“I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?'' and I'm here to tell you this afternoon, no matter how difficult and frustrating that moment may be. Well, it won't take long…

“For how long? Not long.”

More than 50 years later, across the street from the church, brothers Anthony and Fred Bullock, concerned about the decline of education and the pace of social change, decided to “help colored boys become brave men.” We established an all-male academy, Valiant Cross Academy, with the same purpose. ”

Valiant Cross embodies Dr. King's hopes that students will pursue their dreams of being judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, and move students toward productive lives filled with fulfillment and purpose. We strive to be fully prepared.

“We're working to prove that it's not an achievement gap, it's an opportunity gap,” says Anthony Bullock, principal of the school. And they do. In 2022, 100% of Valiant's fourth-year students will graduate from the academy and pursue graduate school options, enrolling in a four-year or two-year college or entering an established career training program. I have enrolled.

This would not be possible without the benefit of public assistance and privately funded tax credit scholarship programs that cover a significant portion of the cost of a student's education, with approximately 3,000 students across the state currently underserved. This program is available to students who do not. These programs are available in 20 states and are a lifeline for thousands of people. However, they have significant limitations.

First, tax credit scholarship programs rely on private donations, which must be recruited, and private scholarship granting organizations, which must collect and distribute the funds. This means that companies depend on the interest and ability of donors to donate, and the ability of willing recipients to raise funds. Second, such programs depend on state legislatures to approve caps on the available tax credits. As a result, tax credit scholarship programs, while laudable, are neither an equitable nor predictable way to fund new educational opportunities for students.

To address this challenge, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey appeared on Valiant Cross on January 14, 2024 as a fitting backdrop for more predictable and more equitable programs to provide opportunities for students. expressed support for.

“We need more Valiant Cross Academies, and we do that by giving parents the freedom to choose the learning path that is best for their children. With a new parliament starting in less than a month, , I remain equally committed to making it easier for Alabama families to send their children to the best schools of their choice.”

Nearly two months later, on March 7, the governor's proposal became a reality with the state's CHOOSE Act, a “landmark bill” signed into law and a “major victory” for advocates.

Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, CHOOSE will establish a $7,000 Education Savings Account (ESA) for low-income and special needs students. This account grows until all students are eligible to use their tax dollars at the school of their choice. Funds will be allocated to make this possible.

Enacting such a measure is no small feat, but the state's initial budget of about $100 million limited first-year student opportunities to about 3,000 students, and further growth would require a new, more expensive Depends on your budget. These ESAs are funded outside of traditional school funding mechanisms, a move that could garner the necessary votes and allay often unfounded fears that public schools would “lose” funding. . While such a deal may ultimately result in a choice program, if the law is written to leverage different funding streams than those that fund traditional public schools, Sustaining or expanding will always be politically more difficult.

Conversely, some states have enacted programs that ignore political challenges because they treat all students equally. Take Arizona, for example. In July 2022, then-Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed the Empowerment Scholarship Account Program, providing all students the same $6,000 that the state allocates to each student, regardless of the type of school they attend. . Within a year he had over 70,000 students using his ESA for their education. Predictability and equity in funding allows schools to meet demand. Its demands and the huge number of participants are something of a safeguard against oppositional politics when new leaders are elected who might resist choice programs. When states create strong programs from the start, educational equity becomes a reality for children, not a dream.

If the goal is to create new pathways for students, states should support those pathways using the same state funds allocated to education, and ultimately local funds as well. Governor Ivey and others deserve credit for stoking the flames of educational freedom, especially for disadvantaged students, but they must also ensure that such programs are part of existing sustainable and equitable student funding streams. Supply will not increase enough to meet the needs of all students unless they meet the demands of their parents.

Like Dr. King, we should ask, “How long will it take to ensure that every student has access to a great education?” The answer we should expect is: “It won't take long.”