During this week's broadcast of Alabama Public Television's "Capitol Journal," former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook), the frontrunner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, criticized the so-called CHOOSE Act, Alabama's school-choice initiative, passed by the Alabama Legislature in 2024.
Jones acknowledged having "real disagreements" on education policy and specifically cited the school choice legislation.
"[E]ducation is always a big thing," he explained. "It's a number one issue on a lot of people's minds. We want to give people the opportunity to have a say. Here's where I have some real disagreements with what's going on in Montgomery. We've done some pretty good job in early years. For instance, I just saw something about the reading on third-grade levels and how that's improved. But it's improved because there was money going into those school systems. And it was federal dollars going in. It was COVID money going in."
Jones continued, "We don't have that anymore. How are we going to sustain that literacy going forward when the budget is not there? We got to work on that. I am very concerned about the CHOOSE Act. I understand people would like to have choices to get to better schools. But I've got a real problem with paying taxpayer money going to private schools that have no accountability to the state government. I don't think that that is a proper way to do. So we are going to be looking at those issues. That's just a few. I could go on and on about the things that we are going to be looking at."
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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