Education in Alabama is changing.

During the recent legislative session, lawmakers passed the Alabama Education Accountability Act of 2013.

Backers of the bill say it does three things.

It allows for flexibility contracts between the State Board of Education and local school districts.

It also creates tax credits for taxpayers (individuals and businesses) who donate to a nonprofit “scholarship granting organization” that provides scholarships for students to attend a nonpublic school or non-failing public school.

It also allows for tax credits for families with students in a (chronically) failing school to attend a nonpublic school or non-failing public school.

State Senator Phil Williams, who was a guest in the WEIS Radio Studios recently, says there are some schools in the state that have failed year after year.

He supports the plan saying it finally gives parents a choice.

Unlike “No Child Left Behind” Williams says the bill allows parents to transfer their children to a school in another district.

And speaking of “No Child Left Behind,” the State of Alabama has been granted a waiver to put aside most of the requirements of the Federal Law enacted in 2001.

Alabama will now focus on its own “Plan 2020” which seeks to have students have students ready for a career or college when they graduate high school.

The waiver means no more of those Adequate Yearly Progress reports.