Alabama on Wednesday became the first state in 2024 to pass school choice and is now the 11th state in the country to have universal education savings accounts (ESAs).
House Bill 129, the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act headed to the desk of Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who made passing universal ESAs her “number one legislative priority,” according to a press release from February.
Ivey signed the CHOOSE Act Thursday, according to her Twitter.
“At the end of the day, we all want every Alabama student – no matter the zip code, no matter the school — to receive a quality education,” she said in the post.
✍️: I have officially signed the CHOOSE Act into law!
At the end of the day, we all want every Alabama student – no matter the zip code, no matter the school — to receive a quality education. #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/P8lSsV6RKm
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 7, 2024
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It passed the House with a 69 to 34 vote, then a 23 to 9 vote in the Senate, according to a tweet shared by school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis.
BREAKING: Alabama Senate just passed a bill to fund students instead of systems.
The vote was 23 to 9.
It already passed the House 69 to 34.
It now goes to Governor Kay Ivey’s desk
It is her #1 legislative priority
Alabama will be the 11th state with UNIVERSAL SCHOOL CHOICE.
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) March 7, 2024
“Today, we’ve finally overcome the last hurdle in enacting Alabama’s historic education savings account plan after the Alabama Senate strongly approved the CHOOSE Act,” Ivey said in a statement Wednesday after the bill passed.
She then said while the state has a strong public education system she looks forward to having all Alabama families “having the right to choose their children’s schools.”
Our education savings account bill, the CHOOSE Act, received final passage. I look forward to signing it into law! #alpoliticshttps://t.co/oJCIMExaQM
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 7, 2024
This comes a year after the Parental Rights in Children’s Education (PRICE) Act was introduced, according to the Alabama state legislature’s website. However, it failed to pass, according to 1819 News.