Parents could move their children into schools outside their zoned districts under a bill proposed by Sen. Del Marsh that won approval in a legislative committee at the Alabama State House this morning.
Two school officials said outside enrollment is already an option offered by some school districts and questioned some of the specifics in Marsh’s plan.
Marsh’s bill, called the Open Schools Act, would require school districts to enroll students outside their residential zones starting with the 2022-2023 school year, with limitations and exceptions.
Marsh said he did not think the bill would result in large numbers of students changing districts. He described it as an incremental step toward expanding school choice for families in response to Alabama’s rankings at the bottom in reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
“If we continue to accept the fact that Alabama is ranked 46th and 51st and don’t do anything about it, industry is going to look at that,” Marsh said. “Our people will be assumed less educated or not educated as well as other neighboring states.”
Marsh said the state has to send a message that the low rankings in math and reading are unacceptable.
“I think we’ve got to show we’ve got to do whatever we can,” Marsh said. “I do believe school choice is a way to address these type issues. This is a small step of school choice.”
Parents would have to pay the school district where their child is moving an amount equal to the per student share of the local school tax. Students who live inside the district would have priority if there is a shortage of capacity. The districts accepting students from outside their zones would not have to provide transportation.
Forty-seven other states already have some form of open enrollment policy, according to the Education Commission of the States.
The Senate Education Committee approved the bill on a 7-3 vote after a public hearing. That moves the bill into position for consideration on the Senate floor. Some senators who voted to advance the bill said they wanted to see changes in the legislation.
Ryan Hollingsworth, executive director of School Superintendents of Alabama, and Shannon Cauley, president of the Alabama Association of School Boards, both spoke in opposition to the bill during the public hearing.
Hollingsworth noted that Alabama law already allows school systems to accept students from outside their districts. Hollingworth said out of 92 school districts that responded to a survey, 61% allow out of district enrollment.
Cauley, a member of the Baldwin County school board, said the district is growing so fast that it would be problematic to accept students from outside the district. She said Baldwin County already adds 400 to 500 students a year and has to account for that growth in its long-range planning.
Cauley also said Marsh’s bill would conflict with federal law because it says a school district could deny enrollment to students if the district is not equipped with the facilities to meet their special needs. She said federal law doesn’t allow turning away students for that reason.
Marsh said the legislative services agency drafted the bill and generally does a good job avoiding those kind of conflicts. He said he would review possible changes.
Marsh is a longtime advocate of legislation to give parents more choice about where their children attend school. He spearheaded the Alabama Accountability Act in 2013, a law that allows children to attend private schools with scholarships funded by donors who receive credits on their state income tax. In 2015, Marsh sponsored the bill allowing Alabama to become one of the last states in the nation to allow charter schools.
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, said the focus should be on trying to make sure that parents don’t have to look outside their districts for quality schools.
“We need to give the tools and resources to public education so that all of our schools are preforming at a high rating,” Figures said
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