School choice rally planned for Wednesday in Montgomery

Thousands of teachers, students and parents are planning a march in Montgomery Wednesday in honor of National Choice School Week.

Various education groups will rally at the State Capitol building Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. to bring awareness about school choice in Alabama. The march will start at 9 a.m. that morning at the Doubletree Hotel in Montgomery and lead up from Dexter Avenue to the capitol.

Ryan Cantrell, state director for the American Federation for Children, said he expects close to 2,000 participants at the rally.

"Basically, our goal is to let legislators know that parents support school choice for children," Cantrell said.

Cantrell said the rally will celebrate the benefits of the Alabama Accountability Act, which allows students zoned in a failing school district to transfer somewhere else through a state income tax credit to the parents. The law was first put into practice in 2013.

"It was the first law to say they had a choice," he said. "A lot of the kids that have benefited have been low-income families and hadn't had an option besides the school they were zoned for."

The rally will also feature a number of speakers, including Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, civil rights advocate Dr. Howard Fuller and education reform leader Kevin P. Chavous.

Organizations leading the event include the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund, StudentsFirst Alabama, the American Federation for Children, the Alabama Business Education Alliance, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the Alabama Coalition for Public Charter Schools and the Business Council of Alabama.

"The Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund is honored to be part of a movement that is changing lives and saving generations," said Sonya DiCarlo of the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund in a written statement. "Parents across the state are knocking down our doors to apply for scholarships that will open the doors to educational opportunity. It's time to celebrate something that has never before been available in the state of Alabama, choice in education."

National School Choice Week is a non-partisan, non-political focus on different education option for students, including public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools and homeschooling.