The Supermajority Has Declared War on Our Public Schools

Guest Opinion By Hanu Karlapalem

The Alabama Supermajority is running a coordinated assault on public schools — on the money, the classroom, and on who gets to fight back.

Parents deserve options. The CHOOSE Act is not school choice. It is a scam — a deliberate transfer of your tax dollars — the dollars that fund Madison City Schools, Madison County Schools, Limestone County Schools, Athens City Schools, Decatur City Schools, and Morgan County Schools — into private schools with no accountability and no transparency. No public records. No performance data. No obligations.

Superintendents from Madison, Huntsville, and Madison County at a “State of the Schools” put a number on what our region loses: $100 million a year. CHOOSE Act funding jumped 38% — from $180 million to $250 million. In 2027, the income cap disappears entirely. Every high-income family in Alabama becomes eligible to collect $7,000 per child per year from the same fund that pays your child’s teacher. That is a wealth transfer.

Governor Ivey signed a $3.7 billion general fund budget. The Department of Corrections gets $868 million — 24 cents of every dollar. The same budget hands out $250 million to private school vouchers with no accountability. The supermajority legislature has made its priorities clear: money for prisons, money for private school checks, but not enough for the public-school classrooms that keep children of all incomes educated and out of prison. That is not a budget. That is a prophecy.

The problem is not the private schools themselves. The problem is what disappears when public money leaves public schools: open records, elected oversight, and the legal obligation to serve every child. The CHOOSE Act removes that obligation entirely.

SB5 mandates the national anthem by constitutional amendment and cuts funding to schools that don’t comply. HB 43 threatens a 25% funding penalty over prayer votes — even though voluntary student prayer is already legal. Drain the base, then threaten what remains.

The assault does not stop at the school door. This past session, Governor Ivey signed HB 580 into law. Under this new law, political appointees on boards of trustees get control over curriculum at Alabama A&M University, Athens State University, and Calhoun Community College. Tenured professors can be fired. Faculty Senates lose their voice and become advisory only — and all existing faculty Senates will be abolished by October 1st. UA and Auburn are exempt, protected by the state constitution. The universities our neighbors attend in North Alabama are not.

We know exactly where this leads. In Florida, after a similar law passed, more than 60 faculty members were given one year to fall in line or face termination — and 10 were shown the door immediately. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D) warned that under this bill, political appointees will operate on one rule: agree with us or lose your job. He added that the bill is really about censoring faculty members who want the freedom to teach. A faculty member told Singleton that it could downgrade accreditation ratings and put billions of dollars in federal research funding in jeopardy. Sen. Orr’s (R-Decatur) response? Schools might get a “slap on the wrist.”

Rep. Parker Moore (R) voted yes — and in doing so, voted to hand our universities to political appointees and to risk the federal research dollars that power North Alabama’s economy.

CHOOSE Act. HB 580. This is not a series of unrelated votes by the supermajority. This is their coordinated agenda — a page taken directly from Viktor Orbán’s playbook. Orbán transferred control of 11 Hungarian public universities to foundations run by his political allies. The people of Hungary just voted him out. Alabama voters can do the same on November 3rd.

Our public libraries are under attack as well. John Wahl — former Alabama Republican Party chairman, now candidate for Lt. Governor — as chair of the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) board, ordered all 200+ public libraries to remove entire categories of books from children’s and teen sections. Libraries that refuse will lose state funding. A fellow board member called Wahl “censor-in-chief of Alabama” to his face. Now Wahl is running for Lt. Governor against Secretary of State Wes Allen — the same Wes Allen who initiated SB21. Two men from the same machine, competing for the same office, built on the same agenda: defund what challenges them, silence what questions them, bar from office those who might replace them. This is not a rivalry between Wahl and Allen. It is a family business.

SB21 is a proposed constitutional amendment to strip naturalized citizens of the right to hold public office in Alabama. The same supermajority dismantling your children’s schools wants to determine which Americans are allowed to challenge them.

My opponent, Rep. Parker Moore (R), signed the Moms for Liberty pledge, supported SB5, and voted yes on HB 580. When I asked him in writing about SB21, he did not respond in nearly six months. He received $64,500 from PACs and other special interest groups this election cycle alone. The Alabama Voice of Teachers for Education made a $10,000 donation to his campaign on January 30, 2026 — the same session the Supermajority Legislature approved a 2% teacher pay raise. To teachers reading this: your union is bankrolling your opponent. A 2% raise? Teachers deserve better.

The war on our public schools ends when we decide it ends.

Hanu Karlapalem is the Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4, a Madison resident for 26 years, small technology business owner, UAH graduate, and Life Member and former Second Vice President of the Limestone County NAACP.

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