MONTGOMERY, Ala. – It’s National School Choice Week and that means children are celebrating their current high-quality educational opportunities or are calling for more options.

But that also means the beneficiaries of the government education system – most notably, teachers unions – are out to maintain their monopoly.

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There was no clearer sign of that than at an Alabama Capitol rally of hundreds of parents and students – most of whom appeared to be African-American – and teachers union representatives standing across the street.

“The quality of education should not be determined on what is in the bank accounts of parents,” Mark Overall, a member of the Black Association for Educational Options, said at the rally, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

“Those naysayers who are afraid of the status quo are going to see that we are not going to back down,” House Speaker Mike Hubbard said during his speech.

“It is going to happen and my goal in discussions with the leadership in public schools, they will see this is not a threat to public schools, this is a way that will help public schools because at the end of the day, our goal is to educate kids.”

But unionists did their best to disrupt the rally.

Drew Taylor, a reporter for the Advertiser, tweeted video of the union protesters honking their horns while rally speakers were addressing the crowd.

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EAGnews obtained more footage featuring car horns honking while the rally speakers can be heard in the background.

“Parents can choose to send their children to faith-based schools. They can choose to send their children to private schools. We don’t ask the taxpayers to fund that choice,” AEA President Anita Gipson tells the Associated Press.

“I can’t tell you their intention.  I know that nearly 2,500 parents and children got to see the AEA building, the people standing outside and the signs,” Lesly Searcy, one of the organizers of the rally, tells EAGnews.

“Our parents value these scholarships and kids love their new schools. The AEA provided the kids and parents the chance to see the organization and people who want to take this new opportunity away send them back to schools where they weren’t learning or were being bullied.”

Dalphne Wilson is happy with Alabama’s choice program.

She tells the AP it allows her daughter to attend a Catholic school.

“Now, she’s surrounded by high expectations,” Wilson said, referring to the difference between her current school at the public school she previously attended.

School choice activist and former Washington, D.C. city councilman posted a picture of the marchers:

Post by Kevin P. Chavous.