Alabama “Public Schools” Charging Students Thousands in Fees

MONTGOMERY Ala.

Some publicly funded schools in Alabama have found a way to charge some families thousands of dollars for the “privilege” of allowing their children to attend certain schools.

It’s been a standard national process for private schools to charge their students tuition fees while public schools have always been funded through state and federal funding, until now.

Some schools across the country have begun charging an out-of- district fee to attend their schools and now, so is at least one Alabama school system.

The rural Lee County school system located in east central Alabama, has found a way around what is “standard” and becoming creative in charging certain families upwards of $7,000 to attend their schools. They have even suggested to parents that the state would reimburse them the fees.

While it’s not unheard of for some schools to charge “out-of-district” students a few hundred dollars each year, it is highly unusual and never heard of in Alabama, for schools to charge parents thousands of dollars for each child attending certain public schools.

Starting in 2025, some Alabama students will get education savings accounts, a school choice option created in 2024 through the CHOOSE Act.
Families will receive up to $7,000 per child for eligible educational expenses. According to the law, that could include expenses at public schools.

Superintendent Mike Howard said students outside the district want to enroll in Lee County, and expanded school choice options and give schools the opportunity to experiment.

We will get two, three phone calls a week on average,” he said. Families asking about sending their child to Lee County schools even though they don’t live in Lee County Howard has said.

Now, schools in other counties have begun exploring this “opportunity” for their own school systems.

Alabama’s law will send $100 million in tax revenue that otherwise would go to traditional public schools to education savings accounts. Families can spend them on tuition, textbooks, and instructional materials. Alabama’s law requires public and private schools to opt into the program.

In states with ESAs, much of the money spent goes to private schools. Historically, in Alabama, most school choice money has gone to students in private schools.

But Howard sees ESAs as an opportunity to attract students to Lee County schools, which, like other rural Alabama school districts, has seen enrollment decline over the past decade.

Enrollment peaked in 2014 at 10,000 students in 2008 and has slowly declined since then. Last year, 8,900 students were enrolled in Lee County’s 14 schools.

“I told the board,” Howard said, “with the CHOOSE Act coming through, we have the potential to lose even more students.”

Will this process help some schools who have been seeing a decline in student enrollments?

Generally, no, said Chris Baumgardner, a long-time educator. Of course, it will help those school systems that are known to produce better students, many of which go on to colleges and universities.

The Lee County school board voted in June to create an out-of-district enrollment policy, effective with the 2024-25 school year.
Students living outside of the district could attend Lee County schools and take online classes under the following conditions:

The student is a rising sixth-grade student or higher (enrollment this year is limited to students in grades six through 11),

The family must live within 50 miles of the board’s central office, which includes all of Tallapoosa, Chambers, Macon and Russell counties along with parts of Randolph, Clay, Coosa, Elmore, Montgomery, Bullock and Barbour counties.

An application must be completed annually,

The family must pay tuition of $7,000 each year,

The student must take a placement test.

Tuition is set at $7,000, which is the maximum amount the state will pay under the CHOOSE Act. Of note: It isn’t clear whether public school districts will be able to collect both an ESA and regular state education funding. The rules for ESAs are currently under development.

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