MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama public schools could face closures, larger classes and fewer course offerings as enrollment falls by nearly 12,000 students, even as the state expands a taxpayer-funded program that helps families pay for private schools and homeschooling.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey has warned that the preliminary enrollment decline could eliminate state funding for 750 to 800 positions in the 2027-28 school year. The potential reductions include teachers, assistant principals, counselors and other instructional support personnel.
The warning comes as Alabama’s CHOOSE Act directs public money toward education providers that can retain their religious requirements, admissions policies and control over classroom content. The law prohibits participating providers from discriminating based on race, color or national origin but does not include equivalent prohibitions covering sexual orientation or gender identity.
The two developments are connected, but available evidence does not establish that the private-school subsidy program accounts for the entire enrollment decline. Mackey has said the program’s participation figures fall well short of explaining the losses.
Preliminary figures presented at the Oct. 8 State Board of Education work session put public school enrollment at about 702,000, down from roughly 714,000 last year. The count includes traditional public schools, public charter schools and public virtual schools, according to A+ Education Partnership’s meeting recap. Private schools and homeschooling are not included.
The figures remained preliminary in reporting published Oct. 16, with districts checking enrollment records. Officials are examining several possible explanations, including fewer children entering kindergarten, families moving and students transferring to private schools or homeschooling.
In an Oct. 14 interview with ABC 33/40, Mackey said years of shrinking enrollment could force some school systems to close campuses and move students and teachers elsewhere. He did not identify specific schools facing closure and said no single district was expected to suffer catastrophic consequences from this year’s decline alone.
“We’re also going to see loss in expertise,” Mackey told the station, describing how a school might have to replace separate algebra and geometry teaching positions with one educator responsible for both subjects.
Mackey expects most potential teaching-position reductions to be absorbed through attrition rather than layoffs. Still, losing state funding would leave districts deciding whether they can afford to retain employees with other money.
Smaller districts could face particular pressure. About 10 county school systems have fewer than 1,000 students, Mackey told Alabama Daily News, making it difficult to provide all required courses.
“Once you get to less than 1,000 students, it’s really hard to offer all the courses that are required,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CHOOSE Act is growing. Gov. Kay Ivey’s office said Oct. 16 that 34,322 eligible students were using program funds for approved educational expenses this school year.
Signed into law in March 2024, the program provides education savings accounts funded through refundable state income tax credits. Students enrolled in participating schools can receive up to $7,000 annually. Students in home education programs can receive up to $2,000 each, capped at $4,000 per family. Payments go to approved schools and providers rather than directly to parents.
Lawmakers increased program funding from $100 million in its first year to $250 million for 2026-27, Alabama Daily News reported in July. At that point, the state had committed about $174 million in awards. The appropriation and the amount committed to students are separate figures.
Most approved recipients were not transferring out of traditional public schools. State data reported in July showed about three-quarters of awards went to students previously attending private schools or participating in home education programs. Participating schools also include some public school systems that accept tuition-paying students from outside their districts.
More recent Revenue Department figures obtained by Alabama Daily News showed that 8,963 students who attended public schools last year applied for funding this year. Of those, 4,096 received awards and 2,655 had activated them when the figures were reported Oct. 9. Those numbers do not capture students who left without using the program.
The law also raises questions about what obligations accompany public funding.
It expressly protects participating providers’ independence over instructional content and curriculum. It says participation does not require providers to change their religious beliefs, admissions or hiring policies, or conduct rules for students and employees, subject to applicable state and federal law.
Consequently, the CHOOSE Act itself does not require a religious school to abandon policies excluding LGBTQ students as a condition of participation. Nor does it impose the public school science curriculum on participating private schools. Those statutory provisions do not, by themselves, establish what any particular school teaches or whether it has rejected a student.
The program does impose requirements, including accreditation or progress toward accreditation, financial safeguards and testing for participating students. Schools can choose among specified assessment options rather than being required to administer the same tests as public schools.
Alabama Arise, a nonprofit advocacy organization that opposes the program, has criticized both its funding structure and its lack of explicit protections covering gender identity. The organization argues that the subsidies direct money away from public education while allowing participating schools to maintain restrictive admissions and religious policies.
Ivey has defended the program as a way to give families more educational options.
“The CHOOSE Act has changed the lives of thousands of Alabama families by enabling them to select schools that best align with their priorities and their child’s specific needs,” she said in a July announcement.
The program is scheduled to expand further. Current eligibility generally limits family income to 300% of the federal poverty level, but the income restriction is set to disappear for the 2027-28 school year, opening applications to families regardless of income.
For public schools, the immediate question is how many students remain — and how much staffing and programming districts can sustain. Mackey has said officials will examine more detailed enrollment records to determine where students went and which communities face the greatest losses.