A comprehensive Alabama school choice bill is stalled in an Alabama Senate study group following objections from legislators and public school advocates. The Parent's Choice Act, introduced by Sen. Del Marsh (R–Anniston), would provide families with state-funded education savings accounts that could be used to pay for private school tuition, standardized test prep, and homeschooling, among other qualifying education expenses.
Because SB140 would use public education dollars to empower families to leave their local public school, the bill has faced considerable backlash from public school defenders, with Sen. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) describing the Parent's Choice Act as an effort to "dismantle public education."
