MONTGOMERY, AL (WDNews) — As part of the state’s new CHOOSE Act program, which Governor Kay Ivey claims is giving parents more control over their children’s education, more than 23,000 students in Alabama will begin receiving monies for their education savings accounts on July 1.
According to Ivey, Alabama passed a universal school choice measure last year, making it the eleventh state in the US to do so. Simply put, the CHOOSE Act was created to allow more Alabama families to CHOOSE the school that best fits their kid.
Alabama’s education savings account (ESA) program, the CHOOSE Act, was enacted in 2023 with the goal of increasing school choice. Families making up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line are eligible for the program in its initial year.
“These outcomes undoubtedly demonstrate that we are succeeding in our objective of providing more Alabama families with options regarding their child’s education,” Ivey stated. These are impressive outcomes, particularly for the program’s first year, regardless of how the media or special interest organizations portray it.
Ivey gave instances of how the program helped families, such as guardians dealing with unique situations, families already enrolled in private or religious institutions, and parents who believed their child’s requirements were not being satisfied in public schools.
Already, some of our families are enrolled in private schools. That family may have given up everything to send their child to a Catholic school, but thanks to the CHOOSE Act, they can now continue to do so while receiving financial assistance from their own taxes, Ivey said.
She also mentioned the effects on military households, foster and adoptive families, grandparents raising children, and special needs pupils who now have access to specialized learning resources and therapies.
According to Ivey, parents of children with special needs now have access to resources that can be used for particular therapies and technology tools that improve learning for those students in a supervised setting.
The governor stated that the new program is a part of a broader initiative to increase access to high-quality education throughout the state, reinforcing her commitment to both public education and school choice.
To be honest, I have prioritized providing high-quality education to every child in every Alabama zip code since day one. She stated that the CHOOSE Act is unquestionably a significant component of that goal. It will, in my opinion, rank among the nation’s most effective school choice initiatives.
On Monday, the CHOOSE Act formally started allocating cash to qualified families for the 2025–2026 school year.
