MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A Montgomery County judge ordered mediation in the ongoing lawsuit over how Alabama’s new school choice law affects high school athletic eligibility, the latest in a high-profile fight between the Alabama High School Athletic Association and state leaders including Gov. Kay Ivey and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter.
A temporary restraining order remains in place to allow students to participate in sports if they’re using CHOOSE Act funds to attend schools.
Montgomery Circuit Judge J.R. Gaines announced the mediation order Friday after attorneys for both sides met with him privately for about ten minutes in a conference room adjacent to the courtroom. No arguments were heard in open court. When the parties returned, Gaines said he would send the case to mediation.
Ivey and Ledbetter issued a joint statement after the hearing.
“Our mission is to simply let the kids play. We have been open to working with the AHSAA all along to ensure they do not unfairly and unlawfully discriminate against our CHOOSE Act student-athletes. Now is no different.
“With (Friday’s) court decision, the temporary restraining order remains in place, allowing our CHOOSE Act student-athletes to continue competing. We look forward to finding a permanent solution.”
AHSAA attorney Jim Williams said the association respects and will follow Gaines’ order.
“The Alabama High School Athletic Association is a voluntary association of member schools, both public and private,” Williams said in a statement to ADN. “The schools make the rules. The mission of the AHSAA is to enforce those rules. The goal of the AHSAA is fairness to all members. We hope to reach a resolution that is fair to all parties.”
The dispute centers on whether students who transfer to a new school using CHOOSE Act funding should be required to sit out a year before playing sports at their new schools.
The CHOOSE Act, approved by lawmakers in 2024, created state-funded education savings accounts that parents can use for tuition, fees, textbooks, homeschooling curriculum and other educational services.
The AHSAA’s current transfer rule imposes a one-year ineligibility period on most transferring athletes. In July 2024, the AHSAA classified CHOOSE Act funds as financial aid, which meant the transfer rule would apply.
State leaders argue that the AHSAA rule conflicts with language in the CHOOSE Act and that using ESAs is not financial aid.
In early September, Ivey and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, pushed back against the AHSAA applying its transfer rule to CHOOSE Act students and filed a lawsuit in their official roles. They later amended the suit to include a parent whose son was impacted by the rule.
Gaines issued a temporary order on Sept. 5 allowing impacted students to play while the case proceeds.
Under Friday’s order, filed soon after the hearing, the parties have seven days to report a mediation date to the court. Mediation must take place within the next 90 days. Gaines appointed former Montgomery County Circuit Judge Eugene Reese as mediator.
In a separate order, Gaines continued the AHSAA’s motion to dismiss – the issue that prompted Friday’s hearing – until April 14.
About 12,500 students were using ESAs to pay for private school as of mid-October, including roughly 2,800 in grades nine through twelve. It’s unclear how many play sports and could be affected by AHSAA’s rule.
State officials have since increased pressure on the AHSAA. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth asked families and schools to submit complaints directly to his office, arguing the association was overreaching.
In October, Senate Education Policy Chair Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, criticized AHSAA for what he said was a lack of transparency and inconsistent communication about eligibility decisions.
About 37,000 students applied for ESAs and 23,000 were deemed eligible. About 19,000 were currently using their accounts as of mid-October – 12,500 for private school and 6,500 for homeschool – according to the Alabama Department of Revenue, at a cost of $100 million.
The law provides $7,000 ESAs for students attending private schools or participating public schools and $2,000 ESAs for homeschoolers, up to $4,000 per family. For this school year and next, eligibility is limited to families earning under 300% of the federal poverty level – roughly $95,000 for a family of four – before dropping the income limit in 2027-28, depending on funding.
Follow Us