A report by the Alabama Revenue Department shows scholarship granting organizations raised nearly $24.8 million in tax-deductible donations through the Alabama Accountability Act, but granted only nine scholarships in their first semester.
The scholarship granting organizations began raising money last summer to help students attend private school. Their first reports to the Revenue Department ran through the end of 2013, which covered the first semester of the new program. Supporters of the program had predicted there would be few scholarships awarded the first semester because the program began so close to the start of the school.
The report says five of the nine scholarship recipients would have otherwise attended public schools rated as failing.
The biggest fundraiser was former Gov. Bob Riley's Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund with $17.8 million.