Two bills that would expand public support for private education got approval from an Alabama Senate committee Wednesday.

With the clock ticking on the legislative session, it’s unclear whether there’s time to get them to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk. Democrats heavily criticized both bills, saying they divert money from public schools and undermine improvements in and accountability for the state’s chronically struggling schools.

The PRICE Act, SB202, would bring universal vouchers in the form of Education Savings Accounts to Alabama. Another bill considered in committee, SB263, would allow more students to use tax credit scholarships already available in the state. Both bills, broadly speaking, allow funding that would otherwise go to Alabama public schools to help students attend private schools.

Montgomery Catholic Prep School President Justin Costanza spoke in favor of the changes, telling committee members the tax credit scholarships have helped the school continue to operate.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, argued passionately against allowing public money to fund private school education, saying lawmakers are doing nothing to help failing public schools. “We ain’t doing nothing for public education,” Smitherman said. “We keep taking money out of public schools and doing all these beautiful projects and leaving these kids behind.”

School choice options in Alabama

The two bills are among several being considered this session that might expand school choice options for Alabama families in different ways. Additional efforts include:

• HB334, from Rep. Danny Garrett, would create a tax credit scholarship for students with unique needs.
• HB442, also sponsored by Garrett, would expand scholarship programs and create a program manager position to oversee the efforts, modeled after Utah’s ESA program.

Chairman Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said he wants to conduct a side-by-side comparison of the different options proposed during the session.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” he said, adding that the PRICE Act doesn’t have his “good seal of approval” yet.

The amount of additional money being put into the scholarship program and into ESAs was a big sticking point with Democrats who questioned why lawmakers wouldn’t use that money to improve the current public schools.

Original estimates on the PRICE Act stated the cost could be as high as $600 million if ESAs were available to all eligible students likely to use them. The committee capped the number of ESAs that would be made available to a cost of not more than $50 million for three years.

“It just seems to me what you all have been doing since 2010 is cruel and unusual punishment to the Alabama public school system,” Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, said, alluding to education reform policies Republicans have brought in since taking control of the legislature in 2010. “Why don’t you just present a bill to do away with it?”

Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said lawmakers have no control over private schools.

“How do we justify handing our money over to somewhere where we have any control or even know what they’re going to do with that money once they get there?”

During public hearings held on each bill, opponents also questioned a lack of accountability for private schools, which are relatively unregulated in Alabama.

Alabama Association of School Board’s Sally Smith told lawmakers that public schools must meet lawmakers’ standards for tests and instruction, but private schools don’t.

“If you’re taking an ESA,” Smith said, “none of those things are required.”

Andy Ryan from the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund, one of the organizations that distribute tax credit scholarships to students, thanked lawmakers for considering expanding eligibility.

During the spring scholarship application period, he said, “We have to turn away thousands upon thousands of families across the state, some who are in your districts, who are looking for some education option they’ve never been provided.”

Smitherman said he doesn’t have a problem with people who want to send their kids to private school, but they shouldn’t take public money.

“This money needs to go for tutoring, and the money needs to go for equipment maintenance,” he said.

Eagle Forum President Becky Gerritson spoke in favor of the PRICE Act, saying other states have seen a low percentage of students use ESAs. She said she believes the program wouldn’t have a big negative impact on public school money.

After the meeting, Gerritson told AL.com she thinks the majority of Alabama residents will stick with their current public schools.

“People are mostly happy, but we need to provide options to parents who are not happy whose kids don’t fit the mold that the public schools provide. And so this is just honoring parents and their families and letting them choose what is best for their kids.”

The PRICE Act is one of the Eagle Forum’s legislative priorities for this session.

The PRICE Act’s sponsor, Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, told AL.com the bill doesn’t indicate a lack of confidence in public education, but instead gives parents freedom.

“If the parents want to vote and say, I don’t have confidence in public education, I want my children to go in this direction, then this enhances their freedom to do that.”