Doug Jones hosted a town hall Tuesday in Montgomery, telling voters about his plans for education if they elect him governor in November.
The Democratic nominee fielded many questions addressing nuanced challenges facing Alabama’s public schools in the coming years, but most boiled down to where the money will come from.
Jones made clear two priorities to get that funding: phase out the CHOOSE Act so that funds currently being routed to private schools can be sent instead to public education, and push a statewide lottery to create a new revenue-generating source.
“I was opposed to (the CHOOSE Act) at the time, I’m still opposed to it and I think it is being borne out that this is going to ultimately, if it doesn’t kill our public schools, cripple them to the point that we can never recover,” Jones said.
He pointed to the recent report from the Alabama Department of Education that public school enrollment has dropped 12,000 students this year, doubling a 6,000-student drop last year. While a variety of factors have influenced that decrease in enrollment, Jones said it’s clear that the CHOOSE Act is a big part of it.
Despite his problems with the program, Jones said he has shifted his stance from immediate elimination to a gradual reduction of the program in which no new students would be added, but students already funded by the CHOOSE Act would be funded through graduation so their education is not disrupted. He also told attendees he would not touch the homeschool component of the legislation, which is less of a financial burden on the state.
One teacher addressed Jones in tears, asking him what he would do to stand up for teachers who have been accused of seeking to indoctrinate students, including by Jones’ Republican opponent, Tommy Tuberville.
Jones started by giving the woman a hug. “I’m as disgusted as you are,” Jones said.
Jones took shots at Tuberville for demonizing teachers, Muslims and law enforcement in different speeches and ads, and told the crowd that a Jones-led Alabama would not be an embarrassment on the national stage—which he said Tuberville has been in the Senate.
