Alabama's attorney general is telling a federal judge that blocking the new Alabama Accountability Act won't help students in failing public schools.
Attorney General Luther Strange is trying to get U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of eight students in failing schools.
The suit challenges the law on equal protection grounds, saying the law's transfer provisions aren't open to the students because there aren't any non-failing public schools or private schools nearby that will accept transfers.
In legal arguments filed Tuesday, the attorney general said blocking the law won't give the students the opportunity to get an education in a non-failing school. He said allowing the law to proceed may result in more private schools accepting transfers.