Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, DGreensboro, recently contributed an amendment to the debated “school choice” bill in Montgomery. The bill, introduced by Senator Del Marsh, R-Anniston, would allow charter schools to collect a portion of county-level tax revenue based on enrollment.
The amendment levels the amount of state funding among students in charter schools and public schools, ensuring charter school students do not receive more state funding per student than publicly educated students.
Another portion of the amendment specifies that counties with less than 40,000 residents would not need to set aside funds for charter schools. This is meant to support rural communities that often struggle to generate enough sales tax revenue to fund education.
Senate Bill 302 also states that funding for city schools will not be effected by the passage of the bill. With these contributions from Singleton, the bill was approved by the Senate in a 22-1-2 vote. After these amendments, the bill has seen support from both supporters of charter schools and educational groups.
The approval of the bill comes after a similar bill died on the Senate floor last year. The bill now moves to the House for passage.
