The state of Alabama is now accepting CHOOSE Act applications for Alabama families.
The CHOOSE Act is Alabama’s new Education Savings Account (ESA) program that is designed to support the success of students K-12 by assisting in the payment of school tuition, tutoring, educational therapies, and other qualified educational expenses at approved education service providers across the state.
Funding for eligible students includes:
- $7,000 per eligible student enrolled in a participating school.
- $2,000 per participating student enrolled in a home education program (this includes an individual or group program, homeschool, co-op, etc., and is capped at $4,000 per family).
Governor Kay Ivey announced the official opening of the applications for the CHOOSE Act on Thursday saying:
The CHOOSE Act will help our Alabama students receive the highest-quality education possible by giving greater flexibility to families to pursue educational options that meet their individual needs. It is a wonderful opportunity to make the future of Alabama stronger than ever.
The state says it plans to prioritize participating students with special needs first, followed by students who are dependents of active-duty service members enrolled or assigned to priority schools in the first 500 ESA awards.
Remaining ESAs will be awarded for participating students based on each family’s adjusted gross income, not exceeding 300% of the federal poverty level for the preceding tax year. In 2024, that amount was $93,600 a year for a 4-person household.
The state says students approved for the program can begin using their funds in July 2025.
“We anticipate the uptake or the enrollments to slowly go up. It’s going to take a while for it to work its way across the state and people get familiar, but it does give them the option–particularly if they’re zoned in a public school district that is out of their liking–they can perhaps use this funding to offset the costs of a private school type education if that school is participating,” said bill sponsor Senator Arthur Orr.
Orr says that for the first year, the funding is capped at $100,000.
It’s legislation that did come with some push-back from other lawmakers and organizations.
We asked Orr for his response to concerns this can be harmful to Alabama’s public school system.
“Right now, the cost is very manageable for what we’re seeing,” said Orr.
“If students are departing the public schools then basically they’re taking the money that they’re using to support their public school education and taking it down the street or across the county or wherever to enroll at a private school. So then we wont have to pay for the cost of that child at a public school,” he added.
Families can now apply online for the 2025-2026 school year at the choose act website. The application process will be open through April 7, 2025, with award notifications scheduled to be sent to families in May 2025.
Once approved, students can begin using their education savings account funds for approved expenses in July 2025.
For more information on the ESA program, you can visit chooseact.alabama.gov.