Give Alabama Board of Education Member Ella Bell credit. She knows exactly what her constituents want to hear. And apparently, they want to hear that Alabama’s school choice program, the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA), “destroys a whole race of people.” She also believes the AAA “took money from the poorest counties in the state to send kids to private school,” called it “stealing” and said that it is “just awful.”
Her constituents? The Alabama Education Association (AEA).
The AEA has had it out for this bill from day one. The idea is that this is draining resources from the state’s Education Trust Fund.
It’s a lie.
The state’s education budget is $6.63 billion dollars. Recent stats indicate that a total of $49.7 million is taken out of that budget every year is somehow “stealing” from the school system. This, obviously, ignores that the money is following these kids, in fact, 20 percent of the money that would be used to educate these kids stays in the schools they are zoned for.
To clarify: For every $10 the state would send for the kid to attend a school, the new school that student attends under the AAA receives $8 and the school with the student is zoned for receives $2. That simple math clearly increases the per-pupil spending.
But this is about power; anything that loosens the death grip of the AEA must be resisted. A poor kid leaving a public school limits the power of the education bureaucrats and elected officials that cater to them. Any school choice or voucher program will be resisted for absolutely no reason.
The AEA knows they own Alabama Democrats, but it’s a worthless investment, so now they have recently started playing in Republican politics as well.
The Alabama Education Association is coming for the Alabama Accountability Act in 2019. Watch who goes along with it.
@TheDaleJackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a conservative talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
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