Tommy Tuberville wants to be Alabama's next governor. On Monday night, he told a Republican crowd what he thinks of some of the public schools he'd be in charge of.
"We've got a lot of these that are animals running the zoo," Tuberville said at a Shelby County GOP forum in Pelham, al.com reported. "No discipline, people up and down the halls."
In a school, the people up and down the halls are students — Alabama's children. And Tuberville's plan for the schools they attend is to take money away from them.
'If you start taking money away'
Tuberville made the remark while promoting the CHOOSE Act, Alabama's voucher-style program. It gives families up to $7,000 per student for private school or homeschool expenses. Starting in 2027, any family can apply, no matter their income.
He was clear about what happens to the public schools left behind:
"If you start taking money away, with kids leaving, those teachers are going to lose jobs. Administrators are going to lose jobs. Competition makes us better."
In his own words: money leaves the struggling schools, and the teachers in them lose their jobs.
Tuberville's campaign didn't respond to al.com's request for comment.
Who the vouchers actually pay for
Tuberville sells the program as a rescue for a kid who "lives in that neighborhood and they can't get an education."
The first year's numbers tell a different story. Of the roughly 14,000 students who planned to use CHOOSE Act money at a private school in 2025-26, about 10,000 — 71% — were already attending a private school, the Alabama Reflector reported from state Revenue Department data.
In other words, most of the students taking the money to a private school weren't leaving the schools Tuberville is calling a zoo. They had already left.
And that was the first year, when the program was limited to families earning up to 300% of the poverty line. In 2027, that limit goes away. That's when the program opens to every family in the state.
What he isn't promising
al.com noted that Alabama has climbed from dead last in U.S. education to around the middle of the pack, with many local schools and districts reporting gains in reading and math. Starting teacher pay is $48,552, less than some neighboring states.
Tuberville's Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, has pledged to keep raising teacher salaries and wants to phase out the CHOOSE Act's private-school money, letting students already using it continue through graduation. Tuberville, for his part, said he wants to enforce accountability standards and pay good teachers to stay in the classroom, according to al.com.
Republicans pushing vouchers elsewhere follow the same script. In Texas, Greg Abbott's health agency proposed eliminating an autism program serving 583 kids to meet a 3% budget trim — while his $1 billion voucher plan was exempt.
The bottom line
Tommy Tuberville told a GOP crowd on Monday that some Alabama public schools have "animals running the zoo," and said taking money away from them would cost teachers and administrators their jobs — which he called competition. The voucher program he backs went in its first year mostly to private-school students who were already in private school: about 10,000 of the 14,000.
