Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth released from prison His New Year's Resolutions for 2024 And at the top of the list is passing school choice legislation.

Ainsworth is not the only one who has already floated the idea for Congress in 2024. Alabama Sen. Greg Reed (R-Jasper) said this could be the year that lawmakers can turn their attention to more “controversial” issues like gambling and, you guessed it, school choice. he said.

This is encouraging because not only is this clearly on the agenda, but it appears to be one of the key priorities.

But before we start celebrating conservative victories in education, we have to remember that this is Alabama. For some reason, it's not easy to pass school selection, even if it's a deep red state.

The end of last year, Wall Street Journal editorial Republicans in Congress accused him of being too beholden to the Alabama Education Association (AEA). The op-ed argued that even Republicans don't want to go against one of their biggest political donors. Even if some of Montgomery's readers disagree with that idea, there is an easy way to prove them wrong. Pass the real school choice.

I love that Ainsworth didn't just include school choice in his New Year's resolutions. He specifically called for “real” school choice. The reason this is important is that there will be efforts to water down any reforms passed by Congress. If the AEA can't kill it completely, I'm sure they'll try to turn it into something light on school choice, or no school choice at all.

State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity) is expected to lead the effort to pass the bill in the House. He intends to introduce legislation based on specific pillars, including education savings accounts, universal availability, parent flexibility, private school autonomy, and public school curriculum transparency. , shall not expand its size or scope. government. This is what real school choice looks like, and this is the foundation that leadership should use moving forward.

RELATED: API report reveals hurdles, hopes for universal school choice in Alabama

Early last year, Governor Kay Ivey announced January 22-28 as Alabama School Choice Week.

I'm not mad about that, but I'm mad that nothing substantive was passed in the 2023 session. Declarations are good, but action in Congress is better. If the governor wants to show real leadership on this issue, he needs to use his authority to pass actual school choice legislation.

Parents are even concerned about what their children are being taught in public schools. Not only are too many schools falling behind academically, but many are also driving a woke agenda. The best thing lawmakers can do to combat this is to break the back of the public school monopoly.

It won't solve all the problems in our education system, but it will give more students a chance at a better future.

Let's hope 2024 is not only the year of educational improvement in the Yellowhammer State, but also the year of passing genuine School choice.

Yaffee is a contributor to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee