The implementation of education savings accounts would serve to raise the standard of K-12 education in Alabama, according to Republican gubernatorial hopeful Lew Burdette.
State Sen. Del Marsh (R-Anniston) on Tuesday introduced the “Parents’ Choice Act” in the Senate, where he is hopeful that the bill will soon gain committee approval. In a recent conversation with Yellowhammer News, Marsh outlined his proposal which he indicated could be one of the most significant educational reforms in recent memory.
Marsh’s bill would establish a state-run Parents’ Choice Program that would be tasked with expanding academic options offered to parents through education savings accounts. Funds would be provided for parents who seek alternative educational avenues for their children by having dollars follow the student to their chosen public, private, vocational or home school.
In a Tuesday interview with WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Burdette insisted that by creating education savings accounts and expanding parental options, educational standards would rise due to the competition it would create among schools.
“I love educational savings accounts. You know, and it should follow them all the way through no matter what school choice they make. And if it’s done in a healthy way, maybe that would create some healthy competition between schools,” suggested the Birmingham businessman. “If they’re losing students then maybe the school system will say ‘Hey, we’ve got to do a better job if we’re losing students because of school choice.’ It’s one component, I’m very much in favor… But it’s only one component of education we need to fix in Alabama.”
With a Republican supermajority in the legislature, Burdette sees no reason why the conservative reform measure should fail to gain the support needed for passage.
“There’s no reason it shouldn’t pass… Republicans, conservatives seemingly control all of it so why can’t we pass things like that? You know, but I get so frustrated,” said Burdette. “Why can’t we reduce taxes, why can’t we have less government growth? Those are supposed to be conservative values but we never hear any of that out of Montgomery do we?”
Alongside establishing education savings accounts and expanding parental choice, Burdette asserted that more needed to be done in the realm of workforce development to ensure continued economic growth.
“What a great area North Alabama is. Great new jobs here, great new manufacturing jobs that have come in… To continue to attract more business and even higher-paying jobs, we’ve got to have an educated workforce,” proclaimed Burdette. “We’ve got to concentrate on workforce development. So education is key to our continued success. Teachers have got to have more resources. School choice is one component but teachers have to have more resources.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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