Gov. Robert Bentley says the Alabama Accountability Act is designed to help students in all public schools.
The governor spoke out Monday after the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal court suit seeking to block the law. The suit says some impoverished students can't access part of the law providing tax credits for families that move their children from failing public schools to private schools.
Bentley says another portion of the law gives those failing schools the flexibility to make changes and improve.
The author of the tax credits, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, says the suit is an attempt to maintain the status quo in education.