Department of Revenue publishes proposed rules for CHOOSE Act

The Alabama Department of Revenue on Monday published its proposed administrative code for administering CHOOSE Act funds to parents and participating schools.

The 19-page document expounds upon the guidelines incorporated into the legislation passed by lawmakers along party lines in the 2024 session. In the House, six Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill.

A spokesperson for the Department of Revenue said in a statement to APR Tuesday that curricula or any other qualifying education expense purchased with CHOOSE Act funds must come from an education service provider approved by the department.

The CHOOSE Act legislation itself did not specify that curricula must come from such a provider, although it requires participating students to receive services from an education service provider.

The majority of the rules are lifted straight from the legislation, with much of the new language being technical details about the proper verification and documentation required to prove eligibility.

Allison King, government relations manager for the Alabama Education Association, said she is still reviewing the proposed rules. The AEA has expressed concerns about the program, although it took a neutral stance on the bill as amended in the House of Representatives. The AEA and other education leaders still have concerns about whether the legislation is strong enough to hold private schools to the same assessment standards as their public counterparts and about how the program could strain the Education Trust Fund budget.

The program, prioritized by Gov. Kay Ivey, is designed as an annual appropriation from lawmakers not to drop below $100 million a year with no cap on the eventual price tag of the program. Republican lawmakers including House Education Committee Chair Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, have said setting the program up as an annual appropriation protects the ETF by giving lawmakers power to base the expenditure on the current economic climate.

The program will eventually provide up to $7,000 per student in a participating private school. The program will be fully funded at no less than $100 million after the next session and will begin funding students from families living up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line, with a priority for students with special needs, military students and students from “failing” schools. 

At $100 million, the program could fund about 14,000 students. There are about 85,000 school-aged children in Alabama outside of the public school system. To cover all of those students, the program would need to be funded at $595 million.