Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has been sparring with the leadership of the Alabama High School Athletic Association. At issue is athletic eligibility rules for students who use CHOOSE Act money. That's the program involving refundable tax credits, which can go to private school tuition or homeschooling expenses. A bill advanced this week that could turn the dispute up a notch. We talk about that and other legislative action with Todd Stacy, host of Capitol Journal on Alabama Public Television. He spoke with WBHM's Andrew Yeager.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Before we get to the specific bill, give us some background on this dispute between Ivey and the AHSAA.
Last summer, the high school athletic association passed a rule that would have made CHOOSE Act recipients, as you described, ineligible for athletics, meaning they'd have to sit out a year if they switched to go to a private school. Well, that really enraged the supporters of that law, including Governor Kay Ivey, saying that was never the intent and that they were interpreting it incorrectly. And so you saw her sue. She and the Speaker of the House sued. That lawsuit is still on hold, but it was successful in getting them to overturn that rule. So nobody's having to sit out right now.
But that really irritated lawmakers. And so that's where this bill comes from, allowing families, recipients of the CHOOSE Act to sue if their child is declared ineligible. Essentially, if the lawsuit doesn't work and they don't change their policy, allowing parents to sue. So yeah, it's absolutely in response to that.
Meanwhile, a House committee backed a bill that would pertain to high school students and their NCAA eligibility. What is this about?
State Representative Jeremy Gray, he's a former athlete himself. He played. He was a high school star. He played college ball, even a little pro ball. He thinks Alabama can improve the way student tracking is done. Meaning some of the big schools probably have the ability to make sure their students are on track and are eligible. And when it comes time to maybe go to college or something, they have all the credits they need and they've done their job. But smaller schools might not.
So this would create a system that tracks whatever credentials the kids need to make sure they've got their ducks in a row and they've their coursework done and credits and everything so that they're eligible for that scholarship. So they can go to college. He thinks it's a real needed program. It's getting late in the session, so I'm not sure if it's going to pass, but I think he's started a conversation that's a really important one to have.
Lawmakers have been considering a bill that would move Alabama to closed primaries. That means you would have to register with a party in order to vote in primary elections. The House passed that measure Thursday, but not before some lively debate. What kind of things did you hear?
Yeah, it really got testy on the floor. The bill passed relatively easily, but you could tell that even Republicans, who most of them ended up supporting it, were really hesitant about this. They say there's nothing wrong with our system the way it is, meaning there's a lot of independents out there. They don't necessarily call themselves Republicans, but they tend to vote in Republican primaries because at least statewide it's tantamount to election these days, kind of like the Democratic primary was 30 years ago. So they don't want to close that off to independents.
Now, the way the bill is structured, anybody still could vote. You would just, at the time of that election, essentially register to vote as a Republican or a Democrat in those primaries. But this is being pushed really hard by the Alabama Republican Party. They only want Republicans to vote in their primary. Some people want it to lead to a lot more conservative candidates — the Roy Moore type of candidates. But a lot of Republicans fear that because it's exactly those type candidates that have trouble getting elected statewide. So it's through the House. It's getting late in the session. I'm not sure if it's going to get through the Senate, but it's a real big deal. And if it doesn't pass, there's going be a lot disappointed Republican activists.
Finally, a House committee advanced a bill this week that could change how faculty senates and tenure rules work at public universities. What's in this proposal?
This is essentially is trying to shift more authority from faculty senates to the boards of trustees. And I'm not really sure what's behind it. It's kind of come out of nowhere to a lot of folks. But they say that universities are looking for flexibility. They want to focus on job placement and workforce needs a lot. You're hearing a lot more of that in terms of customization. And so I think they figure that the boards of trustees will be more responsive to that than the faculty. Whether or not that's true, I couldn't say but that's kind of the idea behind the bill.
