Alabama’s CHOOSE Act, the state’s new and largest school choice program, will mostly benefit current private school and homeschool students, state data shows.

So far, 25,537 students have signed up for the program, which provides families with up to $7,000 in education savings accounts that can be used for private school tuition or other educational expenses.

Alabama law gives some priority to public school students, especially those who attend schools with low test scores. But early estimates show that few have tried to take advantage of the program.

Data provided by the Alabama Department of Revenue shows that just a quarter of applicants, about 6,300, are current public school students. Another 45% of applicants already attend a private school, and about 24% are homeschooled. ALDOR spokesman Frank Miles said the remaining amount, about 5-6%, will enter kindergarten in the upcoming year.

In a statement to AL.com, Gov. Kay Ivey said she was proud to see a range of applications from “all of Alabama’s 67 counties.”

“Whether they are public, private or homeschool students, they are all from taxpaying Alabama families, and it is clear that taxpaying Alabama families want school choice,” the statement read. “Governor Ivey is excited to see many Alabama families looking to take advantage of this program.”

Most states with voucher-like programs have a similar makeup of applicants, said Josh Cowen, an education professor at Michigan State University who has spent years researching school vouchers. And it’s not always a guarantee that private schools will accept public school students, even if they’re approved.

“Just because the state gives you dollars to spend does not mean, emphatically, that the state is going to require a private school to take your child,” he told AL.com.

This year, Alabama’s program has room for about 14,000 students, with priority given to students with disabilities, military students and lower-income students. Applications close on April 7. Families should get money in July.

As of March 20, 18,952 students have applied for the full $7,000 award to attend local private schools. Another 6,340 students plan to use $2,000 tax credits for homeschool or tutoring expenses.

The Alabama State Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Some of Alabama’s private schools, meanwhile, say they aren’t expecting many changes. So far 220 schools can accept ESAs.

What private schools are saying about CHOOSE

At Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School, just over 500, or about 40%, of current families receive some financial assistance. President Justin Castanza said he suspected that many current students would qualify for the CHOOSE Act.

“From an infrastructure standpoint, we’re not really built to expand, and I don’t know that you find any private school that really is,” he said.

“I think what we’re really going to see is we’re going to see a slight increase in new students at each of those [private] schools, but we’re also going to see some funding relief for the kids who are already there,” he added. “There’s only so many kids that each of these schools can accommodate. We’re filling just a few spots at each grade level; it’s not going to be a major transition.”

About 632 students received grants this year through the Alabama Accountability Act, which gives scholarships to low-students who attend “priority schools,” or public schools that received a D or an F on their state report card. Only a quarter of scholarships, however, can be awarded to students who are continuously enrolled in private schools. State law also prohibits students from accepting funds from both the Accountability and the CHOOSE Act.

“Once you attend a private school, it’s right next to impossible to get an accountability scholarship, and the CHOOSE Act doesn’t care about that,” said Kris White, principal of River Region School in Montgomery.

She said she expects a couple of students with disabilities to qualify for the CHOOSE Act credits. The school, known for its small class sizes, has room for maybe 40 more students, she added.

Schools said they will continue to fundraise and administer financial aid, even with the help of state support.

McGill-Toolen, a private Catholic high school in Mobile, expects about 60 or 70 students to take advantage of the program, based on current financial aid disbursements.

“I really don’t think we’ll have very much impact, if any, from students who are not already there,” Father Bry Shields told AL.com. But he said he expected to see some shifts in the long-term, especially if more public school students opt to enroll in private elementary schools.

Margaret Dubose, superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, which serves about 19 K-12 private schools, said it’s too early to tell how schools could be impacted. However, in many schools, as many as 60 to 80% of the current students could qualify for these funds.

She said the Diocese has done a lot of outreach in local churches, and schools have been preparing over the past year to make sure their services align with the law. Earlier school choice programs, like the Accountability Act, have already helped schools adjust and adapt to varied student needs, she said.

“We want children and families who desire a Catholic education, but again, we have to make sure that we can adequately serve those children according to their needs and the resources that we have,” she said. “And that can be academic, it can be behavioral, because we want to do what is right for that child and for the family.”

Castanza, at Montgomery Catholic, said cost is a barrier for lots of families, including those who want the kind of faith-based education that many private schools offer.

But ultimately, it’s up to schools to decide whether they’ll be a good fit.

“What we’re not going to do is open up the floodgates and just say, ‘Oh, you got $7,000? Come on in,’” he said. “There’s no intent on our part to do that, because we’re going to focus first on the culture and the identity. But there’s also no mechanism to do that.”