After calling for defunding public institutions that flout the state's anti-DEI and "divisive concepts" law, State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) again singled out Magic City Acceptance Academy as one of the first offenders on the chopping block.
A charter school in Homewood catering to LGBTQ students, the Academy has been under heightened scrutiny after a report by 1819 News revealed its handbook still promoted diversity, equity and inclusion. Elliott said in February that the school and similar entities operating outside of state law should promptly be defunded.
He doubled down last week on "1819 News: The Podcast," saying he expects the school to be excluded from the new education budget.
The relevant portion begins around the 35:15 mark.
"This is one of those things that year after year, you just scratch your head and go, what are we doing here with state dollars? I'm confused," Elliott said of the Academy. "I mean, look, you want to set up your own little private thing and do that? You know, have at it. But using taxpayer dollars, I think it's just over the top."
"And so what you'll see this year, and I think you've seen the education budget chair in the Senate, Senator Arthur Orr say, look, this is not going to keep happening," he continued. "And so I think you'll see their funding likely zeroed out coming up this year. If they want to go do private fundraisers for this stuff, fine, but it's just not appropriate for taxpayer money. The state has already taken an anti-DEI stance. We did that, you know, last year before. That was, you know, something the feds were moving on. And so I'm proud of that. But at the end of the day, this is just not something that's consistent with Alabama values and not something I see continued funding for."
Elliott added, "They've utilized the charter school funding mechanism to get that. But I think that the Charter School Commission is going to take another look at that and recommend that they don't receive funding. And I'd be very surprised to see that in the budget when Senator Orr puts that out here in the next couple of weeks."
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