MONTGOMERY — Alabama House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said Thursday that he would like to take the $40 million earmarked for the Alabama Accountability Act and divert it to the Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI).
“The Accountability Act has clearly failed,” Ford said. “It’s time to hold the Republican Supermajority accountable on the Accountability Act.”
The Accountability Act, passed during the 2013 legislative session, allows families with a student in a failing school to take a tax credit of up to $3,500 and transfer to a non-failing public or private school in the same district.
The bill has been widely praised by school choice advocates around the country, but has drawn the ire of the Alabama Education Association (AEA), the state’s education employees’ union.
More than 700 students took advantage of the new opportunity given to them by the new law. Only 52 students transferred from a public school to a private school, something the AEA had previously warned would be more prevalent.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said he sees no reason to have to choose between the Accountability Act and AMSTI.
“Unlike Democrats who are dedicated to preserving the failed policies of the past, Republicans are working to provide hope to children in broken schools while also funding world class programs like AMSTI and [the Alabama Reading Initiative].” Hubbard said. “The ‘either/or’ choice that Craig Ford offers is a false choice, and one that proves the Democrats ran out of good ideas a long time ago.”
Ford said diverting money to AMSTI would allow the program to be expanded to all schools in the state over the next four years. Roughly half of Alabama’s schools currently participate in the program, according to Ford.
“AMSTI is proven to work.” Ford stated. “It has improved test scores in every subject, not just in math and science.”
Ford said he will introduce his bill during the legislative session, which begins in January. It is expected to be dead on arrival with Republicans holding super majorities in both chambers of the legislature.
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