Writing a guest op-ed for AL.com, educator Aneesha Watson explains why school choice fails to bring equity.
In January 2026, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed an executive order EO 742, adding the state into the new Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit Program, expanding school choice by allowing families to receive federal tax-credit-funded scholarships for K-12 education starting in January 2027. This is a move critics say could further shift resources away from already underfunded public schools.
As an educator since the early 2000s, I have spent years examining how well-intended reforms collide with lived realities. Marketed as a solution for educational inequity, school choice has instead become a modern mechanism that widens division, drains resources from high-need schools, and leaves marginalized students paying the cost of someone else’s freedom.
The “Ouch” in voucher programs
The basic concept of school choice rests the promise that when families receive multiple educational options, schools will undergo improvement through competitive forces. This assumption requires a fair review because the existing conditions do not provide such an assessment. Title I elementary schools serve low-income families who encounter obstacles that remain unaddressed by vouchers and choice programs. The ability to make “choice” decisions is impacted by transportation problems, complicated application processes, insufficient or delayed information about availability, and the existence of selective admissions procedures. The National Education Policy Center found that voucher programs produce unpredictable results for marginalized students Federal Vouchers Beware, which range from minimal positive effects to complete educational destruction.
The actual implementation of school choice programs works to maintain existing patterns of racial segregation instead of promoting their elimination. Choice systems enable schools to divide students according to their racial background and socioeconomic status, language proficiency, and disability. Charter schools and voucher programs tend to admit smaller numbersof English language learners and disabled students, which results in Title I neighborhood schools facing greater student needs without adequate resourc es to address those needs. Charter schools claim limited resources to adequately serve subpopulations to justify their choice of turning students away.
The process of student sorting creates conditions which replicate “separate but equal” educational settings because it restricts student access and leads to student dropout. The NAACP has warned School Choice Harmful Effects that unchecked choice expansion can intensify racial and economic segregation, calling for greater accountability and restraint in districts already experiencing inequity.