Governor Kay Ivey urged lawmakers to pass legislation in 2026 to stop the Alabama High School Athletic Association from forcing CHOOSE Act transfer student-athletes to sit out a year.

Ivey gave her final State of the State address from the Capitol’s Old House Chamber Tuesday night.

“Unfortunately, we have seen circumstances where the Alabama High School Athletic Association tried sidelining our CHOOSE Act recipients,” Ivey said. Speaker Ledbetter and I even took them to court.”

The CHOOSE Act, signed into law in 2024, created state-funded savings accounts that eligible families can use for qualified education expenses, including private school tuition and other services.

The AHSAA controversy erupted after the association treated CHOOSE Act funds as “financial aid,” meaning a transfer student using those dollars would trigger the association’s longstanding policy that transfer athletes receiving financial assistance must sit out one year before competing.

Last year, Ivey and Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) battled the AHSAA in court after it tried to implement a new rule that required student-athletes who transfer schools using new school choice funds to sit out for one year before competing.

Now, lawmakers want to reinforce the rules when it comes to what rules the AHSAA can enact related to school choice programs.

“This session,” Ivey continued in her address, “Representative Danny Garrett and Senator Clyde Chambliss will carry ‘The Let the Kids Play Act’ to make sure no family benefitting from the CHOOSE Act is unfairly benched again.”

State Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) serves as the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, and State Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville) is Chairman of the Senate Local Legislation Committee, making them two of the most influential committee chairs in the Alabama Legislature.

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee