What each type is, and who to talk to. The requirements to hold each designation are set by the statute and agency pages linked on the card; read them before you choose.
A standard private K-12 school operating under § 16-28-1. Your school takes legal responsibility for enrolled students. However, accreditation (Cognia, NCPSA, AISA, ACEA, AACS, or a regional accreditor) is required to participate in the CHOOSE Act ESA program, and the Alabama Accountability Act SGO tax credit system favors accredited schools.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
An Alabama "cover school" structure — a church school operating as a ministry of a local church, group of churches, denomination, or association of churches. This is the most common microschool pathway in Alabama because it avoids accreditation, curriculum oversight, and teacher-certification requirements at the school level. Families enroll in the church school, and the church school countersigns their § 16-28-7 enrollment form with the local public school superintendent. Operates as both a brick-and-mortar microschool and as an umbrella for home-based programs.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:codes.findlaw.com ↗codes.findlaw.com ↗
A shared-resource model where families satisfy compulsory attendance by enrolling their children in a church school (cover school) and attending a co-op a few days per week.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Requires the tutor to hold an Alabama State Department of Education teaching certificate. Tutor files a statement with the county or city superintendent and maintains a daily register.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
See churchSchoolUmbrella — this is effectively the same pathway, emphasized here because faith-integrated microschools in Alabama typically structure as church schools to avoid private-school accreditation overhead while still being recognized as satisfying compulsory attendance.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Non-religious centers must be licensed.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Alabama Department of Human Resources, Child Care Services DivisionWho licenses this type
Very common in Alabama because the church school pathway makes it trivially legal — the church school is the compulsory-attendance satisfier regardless of how many days per week students attend on-site. Operators should confirm families have filed § 16-28-7 enrollment forms and that the school is maintaining attendance records per its own internal policy.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
A satellite model where an Alabama church school umbrella (e.g., Alabama Church School, Essential Church School, Grace Family Christian School, Pastor Fortson's) covers your families, and you operate as an affiliate learning center under their enrollment. The umbrella handles the § 16-28-7 administrative paperwork; you operate the programming and space. Common in Alabama because several established church school umbrellas offer formal affiliation to microschool operators.