Miss March 31, 2027, and the CHOOSE Act money is gone for a year. Alabama's application window for the 2027-28 school year opens January 4, 2027, and closes at midnight on March 31. The Department of Revenue says no application or document will be accepted after that date; there is no late round and no waitlist.
The stakes for a homeschool family are $2,000 per student, capped at $4,000 per family, paid into a ClassWallet account each July. This cycle is the first with no household income cap. Through 2026-27 the program stopped at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four meant $96,450 of adjusted gross income. For 2027-28 the Revenue Department's FAQ states that "there is no longer an income requirement for eligibility." If you assumed this program was not for you, read on.
The law first: Alabama's three routes
Alabama has no statute called a homeschool law. Families homeschool under one of three routes in the compulsory attendance chapter, Title 16, Chapter 28, and our Alabama requirements page walks through each. Compulsory attendance runs from age 6 to 17.
Church school is how most Alabama families have homeschooled for decades. Section 16-28-1 defines a church school as a ministry of a church or association of churches, and the definition includes home programs. You enroll your child, the child becomes a student of that school, and you teach at home. Section 16-28-7 has the parent file the enrollment form with the local superintendent, countersigned by the school's administrator, and HSLDA notes there is no annual refiling. State law sets no subjects, hours, days, teacher qualification, or test for church school students.
Private school lets a parent run a home-based private school of one. The school reports its students to the superintendent five days after public school opens, reports unexcused absences each week, requires proof of immunization or an exemption, and keeps an attendance register. Few families choose it over a church school.
Private tutor under Section 16-28-5 is the only route with teaching rules: an Alabama-certified teacher, the public school subjects, three hours a day between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., 140 days a year, and a register of hours and attendance.
If your child is in public school now, complete the church school enrollment first, then notify the current school so its roll reflects the change. Our withdrawal guide covers the order of operations, and the Alabama withdrawal letter gives you the wording.
What a church school is in practice
A church school enrollment is an administrative act. You still choose the curriculum, set the schedule, and teach at the kitchen table, while the school keeps the enrollment roll and the attendance register that HSLDA says its principal teacher must maintain. Families call these cover schools, and Homeschool Alabama keeps a list of the ones that enroll homeschoolers.
Each school sets its own rules, and this is where Alabama families get tripped up. One school charges a small annual fee and asks for an attendance log. Another wants a portfolio, a reading list, and a standardized test. Neither is state law. Section 16-28-7 bars the state from licensing or regulating church schools, so a subject list or test you are handed is that school's policy. I would read the policy before the statement of faith, because the policy is what you live with for nine months.
The statute also puts the filing on the parent. Some cover schools file for you as a courtesy, and that is their practice rather than the law, so confirm each August that your form reached the superintendent. The can I homeschool my child guide helps if you are still deciding.
The CHOOSE Act, in numbers
The Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students' Education Act of 2024 created refundable income tax credits that the state calls education savings accounts. Students at participating private schools get $7,000. Students in a "home education program," which the FAQ defines to include homeschools, co-ops, microschools, and online programs, get $2,000 each, capped at $4,000 per family.
Homeschoolers showed up in force. For 2026-27, 1819 News reported 12,367 homeschool students approved, up 70 percent from the year before, inside a total the governor's office put at more than 34,000 students and $174 million. Our ESA guide by state shows where Alabama sits: $2,000 is the smallest published homeschool amount in the country.
Awards are not first come, first served. After the window closes, the Revenue Department sorts the applications into tiers: the first 500 to students with special needs, then renewing students and their siblings, then dependents of active-duty service members assigned to a D- or F-rated school, then the rest ranked by adjusted gross income as a percentage of the poverty level. Dropping the cap does not drop the ranking; a higher-earning family can now apply and sits lower in the queue.
The 2027-28 window, step by step
The application is electronic only and lives at chooseact.alabama.gov, which redirects to the ClassWallet program site. Three documents go in by March 31: your most recent Alabama income tax return (2025 or 2026), a state-issued ID or other proof of residency, and a birth certificate for each student. The parent who claims the child as a dependent is the one who applies. Renewing families got an earlier portal last cycle, and the parent guide promises 2027-28 renewal details in early 2027, so sign up for program updates on the ClassWallet page now.
The school type you pick at the deadline is locked: a student who applies for the $2,000 home education credit cannot switch to the $7,000 school credit after March 31, and a student who later enrolls in a school has the purse suspended. And a child attending a virtual public school full time is not a home education student and cannot receive the $2,000.
What the money buys, and what it does not
The 2026-27 parent guide runs three pages of approved expenses. For a homeschool, the useful categories are curriculum and textbooks in the approved subjects (English, math, science, social studies, foreign language, art, music, religion), private tutoring from an approved provider in those subjects, approved online programs, educational therapies for students with disabilities, dual enrollment at in-state colleges, and fees for AP, SAT, and ACT plus prep courses. Science kits, lab kits, math manipulatives, and microscopes and telescopes up to $250 joined the list for 2026-27. A laptop or tablet under $1,200 is allowed once per two academic years per student, and other technology is capped at $500 a year. Our guide to spending an ESA on curriculum shows how to plan around a list like this.
There is no reimbursement; each purchase runs through the ClassWallet marketplace or a provider invoice. You cannot pay yourself or your spouse to teach your own child. Food, field trips, uniforms, sports fees, transportation, and gaming hardware are out. An invoice with one ineligible line is rejected whole, and anything left on June 30 goes back to the state fund.
What participation changes about your homeschool
Less than you might fear. Your legal status does not change; you stay a church school student or a private school. I read the November 2026 FAQ and the parent guide looking for a testing requirement on home education participants and found none. The testing packet on the program site is for participating schools, and neither document describes any curriculum review.
Two things do change. You accept an affidavit of participant responsibilities for each funded student before the balance appears. And you now have a paper trail the Revenue Department can audit: invoices, marketplace orders, and, if you switch school type, a notice from your cover school or district showing intent to homeschool. Our record-keeping guide sets up the folder once, and what states audit in ESA programs shows the questions an auditor asks. Alabama sets no hour minimum, but a running log in the hours calculator satisfies the cover school and the auditor.
Is $2,000 worth the effort?
For most families, yes. Our cost breakdown puts individual subjects at $100 to $400 each and a full boxed program at $400 to $900 a year. A $2,000 purse covers a full-year program, a chemistry lab kit, an ACT registration, and a stretch of math tutoring with money left. Two students bring the family to $4,000, and the FAQ says a third and fourth child can be paid for out of the two funded purses, as long as the family total stays under the cap.
The costs are time and friction: an hour on the application, purchases routed through one platform, a provider list your favorite tutor may not be on yet, and the school-type lock. If you are new to all of this, start with how to start homeschooling and come back to the money once the enrollment form is filed.
Where to get help
HSLDA's Alabama page is the clearest summary of the three routes. Homeschool Alabama maintains the church school list and a statewide email network. For the CHOOSE Act, chooseact.alabama.gov carries the FAQ, the parent guide, and the application timeline, and ClassWallet support answers at 877-313-2125 on weekdays. Families weighing a move can set Alabama against Georgia side by side. Put January 4 on the calendar now.
