Alabama Approves Charter School Legislation

Blog post

On March 18, the Alabama Legislature approved Senate Bill 45, the School Choice and Opportunity Act. The legislation allows school systems or the newly established Alabama Public Charter School Commission to authorize start-up charter schools; a school system also may authorize the conversion of an existing school into a charter school. Each authorizer may only approve 10 start-up charter schools per fiscal year in the next five years. 

Governor Bentley signed the bill on March 19. Alabama becomes the 14th SREB state to permit the creation of charter schools.