Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / CHOOSE Act - TPR's In Focus - Oct. 16, 2026

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CHOOSE Act - TPR's In Focus - Oct. 16, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's
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  Dothan campus, identifying and preserving historical
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  documents and photographs for research related to the Wiregrass region.
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  More information at troy.edu/wiregrassarchives.
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  From Troy Public Radio,
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  this is the News Wrap from In Focus, and I'm Carolyn
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  Hutcheson. Todd Stacy, host of APT's
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  Capitol Journal, discusses how the Alabama CHOOSE Act
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  has become a hot topic in the governor's race.
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  And the wild card was finally caught at the nation's
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  oldest national park.
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  Todd, welcome back to the News Wrap. Good to be with you.
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  So what is the hot topic for today? You know, the campaign
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  is heating up, and this week Doug Jones, Democratic nominee for
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  governor, was in the capital city. He had an education town
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  hall, and he talked a lot about the CHOOSE Act. This is the education
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  savings account. Some people call them vouchers. Families can take up to $7,000
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  in tax credits in order to apply it to a private school, or $2,000
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  for a homeschool environment. There's high demand for it, but Doug Jones
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  says that he wants to fix phase it out. Doesn't want to take anything away
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  from students who are currently taking advantage. But he says, look,
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  this is taxpayer money that is essentially going to fund private
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  schools. I think the biggest criticism for those that take
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  these scholarships and go to a private school, there is no accountability. There's no
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  test scores and keeping track with students' progress like there is
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  for public schools. So there's a real push, not just from
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  Democrats, but from Republicans as well, about, hey, should we include accountability.
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  So Doug Jones doesn't want to completely eradicate the CHOOSE
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  Act, but wants to scale it back and maybe phase it out in favor of
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  things like scholarships and charter schools. So that's, that's a pretty sharp contrast
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  between Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee, who is in full support of the CHOOSE Act
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  and, if anything, wants to expand it. In your Alabama Daily News, I noticed
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  that 12,000 students have left Alabama
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  public schools since this was enacted. That's correct. Well,
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  that's just in the past few years. The important thing to understand, though, that 12,000
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  students did not go and take Choose Act money and leave. It's not exactly
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  a causal situation. Those 12,000 students left for a
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  variety of reasons. They could just be going to private school, could be going to
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  homeschool on their own volition, not necessarily using this money.
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  In fact, we did a study based on the
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  data from the Department of Revenue showing that 70%, 75% of those
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  using Choose Act money already in private school or
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  they were already in homeschool. So it's really just more of a way for these
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  parents that have already made that choice to save money. But it
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  is concerning when Alabama loses that many students, 12,000,
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  because we fund schools per pupil. Some of those districts might be
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  hurting for funds when they lose students. Well, Todd, turning our
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  attention to Capitol Journal, who are the guests tonight? Well, we're continuing our conversations
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  with candidates for the election coming up. This week it is the candidates
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  for Congress in Alabama's 2nd District. That goes from Montgomery all the way down to
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  the southeast corners of the state. Shamari Figures, the incumbent Democrat,
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  and Rhett Marcus, a state representative who's challenging him.
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  This is a big race. My colleague Jeff Sanders is hosting this week
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  as I've been out for this Leadership Alabama conference. So please tune
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  in. This is a big national race and you're going to hear from the 2
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  candidates tonight on Capitol Journal. 7:30 tonight,
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  noon on Sunday. So could you leave us with a wild card?
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  Well, we love our brave pet stories.
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  Luna, a Jack Terrier, a rescue,
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  got lost in Yellowstone National Park. And just think
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  of all the animals and predators even out in Yellowstone National Park. But this
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  Jack Terrier, who was already a rescue, so probably got some street smarts,
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  was able to brave the wilderness, survive, and was ultimately
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  rescued. Good for Luna. Glad that she is safe. So that
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  smart Jack Russell Terrier was able to evade the bison.
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  Todd, thank you so much for the News Wrap. Thank you,
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  Carolyn. Everywhere I go, people say, oh, I've heard you on Carolyn's show,
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  and you got a huge listenership. So thanks for having me on.
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  And you're one of the reasons they listen, Todd. That was Todd Stacy,
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  host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal.
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  More information can be found at the website aptv.org.
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  Thanks for joining us for the News Wrap from In Focus, which is a
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  podcast. Feel free to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.