Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley wasted no time in signing legislation providing tax credits to parents who send their children to private schools instead of failing public schools.
The Alabama Supreme Court decided late Wednesday afternoon to throw out a lower court order that kept the Legislature from sending the bill to the governor for signing. The Legislature delivered the bill Thursday morning and Bentley signed it just before 11 a.m.
Bentley says the bill provides flexibility for schools in complying with state education laws and gives choices to parents whose children are assigned to failing schools.
Bentley says the goal of the bill is not to support private schools, but to improve failing schools. An attorney for the Alabama Education Association says it will challenge the new law in court.