Senator Tommy Tuberville is a self-described advocate for school choice. He isn’t doing the movement any favors.
In January 2024 on the Senate floor while advocating for federal funding for it, he stated the following, “How are we going to compete against our biggest adversary, China, if we’re not educated? Kids in China are learning calculus, and this is in elementary school. Kids in China are learning calculus while our kids are studying pronouns, the 50 genders, and Critical Race Theory. It is a disservice to our kids. And frankly, it’s a national security issue.”
Let’s evaluate his underlying assumptions here. China and the U.S. are in an existential battle for global resources and technology. The commodity is well- trained STEM students turned workers ready to take on this challenge. The “national security issue” is that we are being vastly outperformed in math education because our public school teachers are indoctrinating youth with “woke” ideology. This quote contains a transphobic slur and misinformation about CRT which is not being taught in schools.
Next he offers a simplistic solution. He states, “Competition makes everything better. Whether it’s in football, business or life.” Later, he states, “Put the pressure on our public and government schools. Make them compete to keep their students there.”
In China it’s actually the opposite. The students compete for the schools.
That’s why they go to extremes to excel in their studies. If they don’t ace their middle school exit exam, it’s off to job training. They lose access to academic high schools and universities. The Chinese government has very strict and uniform standards for both public and private schools. They fund public schools very well, and they would find it absurd to pit private schools and public schools against each other in competition for government funding. They would find it equally absurd that powerful partisan interest groups want to financially incentivize more affluent parents to abandon the public school system all because of culture war reasons that have nothing to do with better educational outcomes for all students. They would understand that private schools market themselves for their exclusivity in order to charge high tuitions to the wealthiest families already affording private schools without government subsidies. There are simply not enough private schools to accommodate the masses of low income students.
What would Senator Tuberville tell the multitude of families in Alabama who started the application for CHOOSE Act funding the first year but abandoned it because they realized that it was in no way a viable financial option because of high tuition costs?
Now let’s leave the Senate floor, and go to right wing media where Senator Tuberville can really let loose with his opinion. As widely reported in May 2023, on Donald Trump Jr.’s show, ‘Triggered,’ he stated, “The COVID really brought it out how bad our schools are and how bad our teachers are, in the inner city. Most of them in the inner city, I don’t know how they got degrees. I don’t know whether they can read and write. And they want a raise. They want less time to work, less time in school.”
To defend his remarks he explained that he was talking about other states not Alabama.
In direct reaction to this and other statements, Chris Tuberville, his older brother wrote, “Due to recent statements by him promoting racial stereotypes, white nationalism and other various controversial topics, I feel compelled to distance myself from his ignorant, hateful rants. What I’m trying to say is that, I DO NOT agree with any of the vile rhetoric coming out of his mouth.”
In Yellowhammer News there is more criticism of public school teachers and transphobic remarks. He states, “The pandemic revealed that many teachers are more focused on indoctrination than education. More and more, high school students today can tell you everything you want to know about the made-up ‘gender spectrum,’ but struggle to read at grade level or do basic math.”
Senator Tuberville’s words speak for themselves, and voters will have to decide if they want to hear more of this from their future governor. I hope he will consider this statement from the Economic Policy Institute article May 2025, entitled, “The five-alarm fire that public education is facing.” It states, “The only education system that can fulfill the promise of equal opportunity for all children, regardless of race, disability, or income, is a fully funded system of public schools. Lawmakers interested in building prosperous communities should invest in public schools rather than defunding and privatizing them.”
This article goes on to list the five “alarms,” which are the following:
“Alarm level 1: COVID-19 relief funding for public schools is winding down. In some cases, the administration is ending it prematurely… Alarm level 2: The administration is lawlessly dismantling the Department of Education and attacking inclusive schools…. Alarm level 3: Lawmakers are pushing a mounting wave of voucher programs, an increasingly large cost to state-funded education…. Alarm level 4: National voucher proposals threaten public schools throughout the country….Alarm level 5: Tax cuts reduce available revenue for public schools.”
Final thought. Lawmakers calling themselves fiscal conservatives should read the article called, “Arizona public schools remain ranked last in the US as voucher spending hits $1 billion.” It mentions, “the state’s strong culture around school choice.”
