Gov. Kay Ivey Monday reaffirmed her support for creating education savings accounts at a rally on the Alabama State Capitol steps on Monday.

But Ivey and other speakers gave few details of what they would support on the issue, which has already drawn pushback from State Schools Superintendent Eric Mackey and other educators in the state.

“It will be sustainable, responsible and it’s how we will shape the future of education in Alabama,” Ivey told several dozen people at a rally for “School Choice Week,” a push to expand nontraditional public schools and publicly-funded private school options.

Education savings accounts are similar to vouchers in that they allow the use of money originally intended for public schools to be used for other items, including private school tuition. Vouchers send the money to an educational institution that the student attends. Education savings accounts go to the parents, who can use it for any number of services, including tuition, tutoring and counseling.

Ivey made expansion of education options The Alabama Legislature passed legislation expanding the Alabama Accountability Act, a scholarship program allowing students in low-performing schools to qualify for scholarships to private schools.

The governor told the crowd that her “top priority is ensuring education savings accounts bill crosses the finish line.”

What emerges from the session will be up to the Legislature, and likely Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville and Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, the chairs of the legislative committees overseeing the Education Trust Fund budget, which would fund any type of Education Savings Account. Messages seeking comment were left with Orr and Garrett on Monday morning; neither man could be seen at Monday’s rally.

Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, filed , which would have allowed roughly $6,900 to follow a student. The bill, filed late in the session, did not become law.

Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, who filed a House version of Stutts’ bill, said Monday that he also supported an expansive education savings account option.

“It brings the free market back to education,” he said.

Stutts and Yarbrough tend to be some of the most conservative members of the Republican supermajority Legislature.

Yarbrough lined out his plans for “true school choice:” universal for all students; flexible spending ability; protects autonomy of private and home schools, while making traditional public schools’ curriculum transparent and is not an “attempt” to increase government spending.

“I believe that true school choice does not increase the size or scope of government,” he said.

The bill has not been filed as of Monday morning.

Students and parents spoke about their own experiences with education options in the state at the rally also.

June Henninger, a fifth grade student at the private Montgomery Christian School, said that she benefited from her experience at the school. She said she was grateful for her education and her teachers.

“I’m ready for my next school of my choice,” she said.

Montgomery Christian School students are on scholarships through donations and from scholarships

“School choice” can refer to a number of things, namely charter schools, vouchers and/ or education savings accounts.

, State Superintendent Eric Mackey said that he would want the money to go to schools and would require accountability.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on and .

A Republican senator plans to file a bill that could offer new pathways for training principals, along with some monetary benefits.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said that the bill aims to create more intensive training for principals, and increase pay for those who complete it.

He said that bill came out of conversations with educators who said a principal is critical to the success of a school.

“So, if you have a very low performing principal, by and large, now there’ll be some exceptions with Miss Jones’ classroom or Mr. Smith’s classroom, but the school will be lower performing, as well,” he said. “If you have a high-performing successful principal, they can lift all classrooms up and have the school performing at a higher level.”

Orr said that he believed that many principals learn through on-the-job training.

Currently, Alabama has eight standards laid out for instructional leaders. Instructional leaders are expected to plan for continuous improvement; promote and monitor teaching and learning; develop faculty and staff, respect and respond to the diverse needs of students; sustain community relationships; integrate current technologies; manage the learning organization and demonstrate ethics.

Educators can get professional training on those standards, said Vic Wilson, executive director for the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools (CLAS), a professional organization for school administrators. Anyone with an administrative certificate has to complete five units within a five-year period.

Some of the professional learning units include “Promoting Continuous Improvement in Schools & Districts;” “Supporting Whole System Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education: A Learning Circle for Leaders;” Providing Effective Feedback for Improving Classroom Instruction” and “Leaders Building Schools of Character.”

“Anybody that thinks we don’t have standards and adjudicate our leaders based on those standards would be mistaken,” Wilson said.

Wilson said that he believes that any set of standards is a good thing. Principals, like teachers, should be lifelong learners, he said.

“Anything we can do to show we have exemplary leadership is very good for those under their care,” he said.

Orr compared the idea to national board certification for teachers. To earn certification, teachers complete assessments and portfolios to demonstrate their grasp of five core propositions: being committed to students and learning; knowing the subjects and how to teach them; being responsible for managing and monitoring student learning; thinking systemically about practice and learning from the experience and being a member of a learning community.

In Alabama, certified teachers get an annual $5,000 stipend on top of their pay. Orr said he was considering something similar for administrators.

“And, so, we’re of that mindset to certainly reward principals that want to go the extra mile and receive the training, and then we want to certainly incentivize them to take that training,” Orr said.

The 2023 regular session of the Alabama Legislature starts on March 7.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on and .