Matt Butler is like so many Alabamians who took to social media to push back against Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth.
The outgoing Republican has been among the most vocal critics of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s decision to separate public and private schools during championship competition.
“My kids attend Skyline, a 1A school, and I’ve seen our school fail on the state level for a championship more times than I can count to a private school,” Butler, who owns several businesses in Scottsboro, wrote.
“We would have a wall of state championships if it wasn’t for the integration of private schools on a public level.”
A resident of the tiny town of Skyline in Jackson County, Butler’s reaction underscored many of the concerns raised on Ainsworth’s Facebook page.
Though Butler said he frequently supports Ainsworth and his policies, Butler backs the AHSAA’s decision to split public and private schools for postseason play.
“Every parent is going to look through their own rose-colored glasses and be on the side that best benefits their kids as far as sports goes,” Butler wrote.
Online criticism
That sentiment appeared to dominate the comment sections Friday and Sunday under two Facebook posts by Ainsworth.
Hundreds of comments poured in, and the overwhelming majority supported the AHSAA’s decision that, for the first time in its century-old existence, public and private schools will determine championships separately.
For many commenters, the issue was personal.
Public school parents and teachers, who far outnumber those affiliated with private schools, took their arguments directly to Ainsworth’s social media pages.
The criticism also followed remarks by Gov. Kay Ivey during her State of the State address, in which she accused the AHSAA of sidelining recipients of Alabama’s CHOOSE Act.
Since then, Republican lawmakers have filed new legislation, including a proposal that would allow the governor, lieutenant governor and legislative leaders to appoint members of the AHSAA board, which oversees a private organization. The sponsor of that bill said he was “tapping the brakes” on the legislation in hope that the dispute could be resolved.
Critics objected to Ainsworth’s strong statement Friday, in which he accused the AHSAA of “extinguishing the flame of competitiveness and abandoning any effort at simple fairness and good sportsmanship under their watch.”
He also criticized the “coaches participating in this boneheaded decisions” for focusing on winning championships instead of the high school athletes “they are supposed to serve, the lessons about sportsmanship they are supposed to teach, and the simple respect and dignity that students and their parents deserve.”
One commenter, who identified as a coach, said the AHSAA’s decision passed by a 13-2 vote.
Other critics said they will not vote again for Ainsworth.
The lieutenant governor is term-limited and is not running for elected office in 2026.
Ainsworth’s criticism reflects ongoing disputes between elected officials and the AHSAA, including the organization’s position that students who receive funding to attend private schools under the CHOOSE Act are ineligible to compete in athletics for one year.
The AHSAA says the rule aligns with its longstanding policies on financial aid.
A lawsuit filed by Gov. Ivey and Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter argues that CHOOSE Act students should not be subject to the financial aid rule. The case is currently in mediation.
Commenters were also critical of the CHOOSE Act itself, formally known as the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education Act of 2024.
The law took effect this school year and provides refundable tax credits, known as education savings accounts, for private school tuition or homeschooling.
The program allows up to $7,000 per participating student enrolled in a private school or $2,000 per student in a home education program, capped at $4,000 per family.
Some commenters accused private schools of recruiting athletes who would otherwise attend public schools.
Critics of the CHOOSE Act said the law pits schools against one another in a statewide recruitment battle for top student athletes. Ainsworth, in now-deleted comments, accused public schools of engaging in similar practices.
‘Unfair’
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UMS-Wright vs. Vigor
In a Sunday post, Ainsworth continued his criticism of AHSAA President Heath Harmon and the board, calling the new classification system “obviously not properly thought out.”
He said words like “unfair,” “unsportsmanlike,” and “mean-spirited” came immediately to mind and accused the AHSAA of creating what he called a “misconception” that the CHOOSE Act was the “root of the problem.”
Ainsworth defended the law, saying it includes safeguards to “ensure eligibility and competitiveness are not abused.”
Ainsworth said he had been inundated with text messages and emails from concerned coaches, school administrators, and parents from both public and private schools.
He noted Alabama will be one of only eight states where public and private schools do not compete against each other during championship events, though they may still face each other during the regular season under the AHSAA’s ruling.
His post also included personal reflections.
Ainsworth said he attended public school from kindergarten through 10th grade in Boaz, where the high school basketball team reached the Final Four before losing to B.C. Rain, a public school.
He later transferred to Westbrook Christian School, where the football team, led by future Alabama and NFL quarterback Brodie Croyle, lost its championship game to Billingsley High School, also a public school.
Ainsworth said his three children attended public school in Guntersville until the pandemic, when they transferred to Whitesburg Christian Academy, a private school, “for its strong academics and its religious education.”
He said Whitesburg is at capacity and does not recruit or admit students based on athletic performance.
He noted that the school’s football team lost a playoff game 70-14 to Mars Hill, a private school, and also suffered a lopsided loss to Fyffe, a public school.
He said that 95% of the time, private schools do not have an unfair advantage over public schools.
“In essence, the AHSAA is punishing 95% of the state’s private schools for the 5% of that people complain about when they win championships, and instead of fixing the competitive balance and multiplier issues that exist in all classifications, Harmon and his board simply decided that segregation was the best option,” Ainsworth wrote.
He warned that removing 60 private school teams from playoff regions would create “unintended consequences and raises a hint of chaos.”
Critics on his social media pages countered that the biggest inconvenience for private schools would be increased travel distances for playoff games.
Ainsworth said public schools in small communities would also lose gate revenue, adding they “desperately need the money to fund their programs.”
“Removing more than 60 teams will increase transportation costs, create huge disruptions in academic and work weeks, and create logistical nightmares for schools, families and, most importantly, students,” Ainsworth said.
“Regional games that are up to three hours away are inconvenient, unnecessary, and impractical, especially when other regional opponents could be much closer.”
Ainsworth also said he fears the new arrangement could lead to the creation of “super teams” among both public and private schools.
He said the system would benefit city school systems with greater financial resources for coaches, facilities and equipment.
“Parents will move to new homes and neighborhoods so their children can play on the best teams, and county schools will complain because they can no longer effectively compete against city schools,” Ainsworth wrote.
Butler, like many other commenters, said the only people complaining about the AHSAA’s decision are those affiliated with private schools.
In Alabama, there are approximately 1,507 public schools compared with 367 private schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Private schools educate about 7.8% of students statewide.
“I feel this was the exact change that was needed,” Butler said. “The private schools … they no longer have the upper hand over all the public schools.”