Students accepted into Alabama’s education savings accounts under the CHOOSE Act will have more choices next year. Local school districts across the state are now allowing out-of-district transfers to use their education savings accounts to pay tuition for public school-to-public school transfers.
To date, families have had the option to use their allotted funds for approved private schools and homeschooling, as no school districts qualified.
As first reported by Alabama Daily News (ADN), 10 school districts are now listed on the CHOOSE Act marketplace and meet the requirements which include charging tuition.
Senate Education Budget chairman Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) told Alabama Daily News the public-to-public school option was one of the choices lawmakers intended to create when they passed the law.
“It’s not always leaving public school to attend private school,” Orr said. “This scenario is leaving one public school to attend another public school. It empowers the parents to have more options. And that was one of the fundamental components of passing the law.”
The public school districts currently listed by the Alabama Department of Revenue as participating in the CHOOSE Act program are as follows:
Dothan City
Elmore County
Geneva County
Gulf Shores City
Houston County
Oneonta City
Orange Beach City
Pike County
Saraland City
Troy City
The application deadline has passed for the next school year, and award letters have begun to go out.
Funds made available through the CHOOSE Act are handled by the Alabama Department of Revenue and must be used for the academic year. Unused funds do not roll over.
For more information on the CHOOSE Act, visit the Alabama Department of Revenue's website here.
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