Title 16 — Title 16

This chapter shall be known as the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education Act of 2024, or the CHOOSE Act. History: (Act 2024-21, §1.)

As used in this chapter, unless otherwise specified or unless the context requires otherwise, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) ACADEMIC YEAR. The 12-month period beginning on July 1 and ending on the following June 30. (2) DEPARTMENT. The Alabama Department of…

(a) To offset the cost of qualifying educational expenses, there is established a refundable income tax credit subject to this chapter and to the availability of monies in the CHOOSE Act Fund established pursuant to Section 16-6J-8. (b)(1) For the years beginning on January 1, 20…

(a) To participate in the program, a parent of an eligible student must do all of the following: (1) Submit to the department any information required by the department for implementation of the program, including the name of the eligible student. (2) Agree to claim the credit on…

(a) To be approved by the department, an education service provider must do all of the following: (1) Submit to the department any information required by the department for implementation of the program, including its address, contact information, and a summary of each program o…

Rulemaking Authority. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that educational savings accounts be made available to parents of participating students beginning with the 2025-2026 academic year. (b) The department shall administer the program with respect to parents of eligible s…

(a) To identify fraud or other potential misuse of program funds, the department shall do both of the following: (1) Conduct random financial audits of ESAs and education service providers, including participating schools. The random financial audits shall be conducted with suffi…

(a)(1) The CHOOSE Act Fund is created in the State Treasury for the purpose of providing funding for the tax credits authorized by this chapter. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the Legislature shall appropriate not less than one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) to …

If any part of this chapter is challenged as violating either the state or federal constitutions, parents of eligible students and participating students shall be permitted to intervene as of right in the lawsuit for the purposes of defending the constitutionality of the program.…