29-04-2025
CHOOSE Act brings increase in applications to local K-12 religious schools
Apr. 29—Local K-12 religious schools are seeing an influx of new applications due to an Alabama voucher-like program that begins in the 2025-26 school year and is funded with state education dollars.
"With the families that we are interviewing for next year, a good number of them are telling us that we just were never an option until this came into play," said Steve Hall, head of schools for Decatur Heritage Christian Academy.
The state Legislature passed the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students' Education (CHOOSE) Act in 2024. Qualified families can receive $7,000 per K-12 student enrolled in a private or out-of-district public school or $2,000 per student — up to a $4,000 maximum — for homeschooling programs.
For now, eligibility is limited to families with adjusted gross incomes below 300% of the federal poverty level. According to ALDOR, about 75% of Alabama families meet those guidelines. For example, a family of three applying for the 2025-26 school year must make less than $77,460.
Starting in the 2027 — 28 school year, those income limits will be eliminated, opening eligibility to all qualifying students regardless of household income.
Applications for next school year closed April 7, and families will begin to hear if they've been awarded the credit this week.
"We didn't necessarily know what to expect," Hall said.
Nearly 37,000 students applied for the program statewide, including 521 Morgan County residents, 696 Limestone residents and 109 Lawrence residents.
Decatur Heritage Christian Academy had 137 students list it as their school of choice in their CHOOSE Act application. Lindsay Lane Christian Academy had 244 and St. Ann Catholic School had 30.
Most of the applications are from current students, but each school also saw significant growth in applicants.
About 20 students not currently enrolled at Decatur Heritage listed it as their school of choice. If each of these students enrolled, it would mark a 5.3% increase of student population from the previous year.
Hall said Decatur Heritage could handle this increase without too much trouble.
"We do not intend to grow in a fashion that overwhelms us," Hall said. "We're going to measure our growth very intentionally."
Kenneth Rolling, principal of Saint Ann Catholic School, sees the CHOOSE Act as an opportunity to recover from a decline in enrollment brought on largely by COVID-19.
"I think especially as the program reaches fruition in the next couple years, it will have a significant impact, most especially (because of our) reliance on the parish for so much of our financial aid," Rolling said.
St. Ann has 67 current students, many of whom receive financial aid of some sort, such as scholarships or parish member discounts. Rolling said having the CHOOSE Act shift the financial burden from the church to the state and will allow it to provide programming it couldn't previously afford.
"One of the limitations that we've always kind of had in the competition for students, so to speak, against the public schools is that they've always had significantly more funding, obviously," Hall said, "and they often have, as a result of that, many programs that we can't afford, whether those be extracurriculars or additional services provided for students who have special learning needs."
Critics of the CHOOSE Act are concerned about the damage that it will inflict on public schools. The act was originally funded with $50 million, and another $50 million was added this year, revenue pulled from the Education Trust Fund. A pending House education budget bill would add $80 million from an education reserve fund after a higher-than-expected number of students applied.
"We value the importance of parental engagement in shaping their children's educational path," said Tracie Turrentine, superintendent of Morgan County Schools. "The Morgan County School System is committed to being that choice by providing great academic programs, career and technical opportunities, and a thriving athletics program.
"However, we are concerned that the CHOOSE Act may redirect critical funding away from our schools."
Robby Parker, who previously worked at Bob Jones High School in Madison for 33 years and is now head of schools for Lindsay Lane, has experience in both the public and private realms.
"I don't think the CHOOSE Act is a scary thing," Parker said. "I don't see that it will hurt public schools, but I think that it will certainly help people who choose to come to a private school."
The 244 CHOOSE Act applicants that listed Lindsay Lane as their choice represent a mix of current students and new applicants. Parker said the school has seen a significant increase in new applicants in the last two months.
Lindsay Lane is near full capacity, though, and is even considering adding an additional kindergarten unit to meet the demand.
Parker said that as the CHOOSE Act attracts more students to Lindsay Lane, the school will continue to be a Christian school.
"We welcome everybody," he said. "We welcome diversity. We want diversity. But we do preach Jesus every day, and we want to share the gospel. ... We want to prepare our students to go anywhere, and be able to share Christ in whatever setting they're in."
Hall said the CHOOSE Act aligns with Decatur Heritage's mission as a religious school.
"We're a Christian school, and the kingdom of God is made up of people of all different races and ethnicities and socioeconomic positions, so our heart has always been, 'How do we look like our community? How do we bless the fullness of our community?'" Hall said.
"And one of the greatest hurdles to doing that has been the financial limitations that some of our families face. (The CHOOSE Act) allows us to actually pursue the mission of our school and what we do more fully, so we're very excited about the opportunity to do that."
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