GOP Challenger for Alabama Governor Mocks Parents’ Rights by Attacking LGBT-Friendly Charter School

A candidate for governor in Alabama is attacking school choice, accusing a local charter school of taking taxpayer dollars and “exploiting” children.

But this case is different. Typically it’s Democratic politicians attacking school choice at the behest of supporters in public school teachers unions. But in this case, the candidate—Tim James—is a Republican who is attempting to primary Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.

Alabama’s Republican Party just voted in favor of a resolution supporting a school choice bill in February, so James’ position may seem a bit odd, until you take a look at the school he’s targeting. James is on the attack against Magic City Acceptance Academy, an LGBT-friendly charter school near Birmingham that serves about 240 students from sixth through 12th grade and is approved and funded by Alabama.

“Gov. Ivey appointees on the AL Public Charter School Commission funded Magic City Acceptance Academy [with] $2 [million] in the state budget,” James tweeted. “The buck stops [with] the governor. As governor, Tim James would have opposed the formation of this school and would have vetoed any budget that funded it.”

James is using the “these are our tax dollars” argument, a claim often made by opponents of school choice and vouchers, acting as though the parents who want to send their kids to Magic City Acceptance Academy aren’t taxpayers and shouldn’t have the right to decide the curriculum of the school.

James’ 30-second ad attacking the school (which begins with James saying “there’s a war going on between comm