Some Alabama school districts oppose Open Enrollment law

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WPMI) — Parents wanting to move their child to another school district could get that choice as lawmakers in Montgomery begin considering sweeping changes. The bill requiring all districts to hold open enrollment has now passed a Senate committee.

Today school districts like Baldwin County, which does not have an out-of-district policy are crying foul. Superintendent Eddie Tyler is in Montgomery today for this reason as he and other superintendents are speaking out against the bill.

The plan if it becomes law is to require all school districts in Alabama to allow open enrollment and accept students from outside their districts for a fee. Forty-seven other states have similar open enrollment policies.

Public schools here are already seeing growth due to more and more families moving to the area.

"There are other systems like gulf shores for example, that do welcome out-of-district students who may want to come to their city system, but not every system has a uniform policy here," said Jessie McDaniel who represents Baldwin county teachers. He says the last things teachers need are overcrowded classrooms and the return of portable buildings.

"We don’t need to compound that problem by forcing state government on local decision making," said McDaniel.

Lawmakers have added exceptions for example, school districts would not have to accept new students if there is a lack of space or if the students don’t meet certain requirements.

One local concern is the possibility that out-of-district students would be given the ability to enroll in Baldwin County's successful virtual school. School Board member Shannon Cauley says that would be counterproductive.

"One of the things that we've learned this last year through COVID is that by having a larger enrollment in our virtual school is that we fare much better with smaller numbers. We saw that with smaller numbers we were able to have better accountability with our students," said Cauley

The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration. The legislative session ends in 9 days.