Private Tutor Homeschool Alabama: The §16-28-5 Pathway Explained

Alabama has three legal pathways for educating a child outside of public school. Two of them — the church school provision and the private school provision — are used by the overwhelming majority of homeschooling families. The third, the private tutor law, is the one parents stumble across in their research and then spend time trying to figure out whether it applies to them.

It almost certainly does not. Here is why, and what the law actually says.

What Ala. Code §16-28-5 Requires

The private tutor provision (Ala. Code §16-28-5) is the oldest of Alabama's three non-public education pathways. It was written to accommodate families who hired a professional educator — a governess, a full-time tutor — to instruct their children at home. Its requirements reflect that original intent:

1. The instructor must hold a valid Alabama teaching certificate. This is the provision's central and most restrictive requirement. The person doing the instruction must be a state-certified teacher. That means a four-year education degree, passing scores on the Praxis or equivalent Alabama educator certification exams, and active state certification in good standing. Most parents are not certified teachers. This requirement alone eliminates the private tutor pathway for the vast majority of Alabama families.

2. Instruction must occur 140 days per year, at least three hours per day, between 8 AM and 4 PM. This is not a general requirement to provide instruction — it is a specific schedule requirement. Three hours daily, during a defined six-hour window, for 140 documented days.

3. A detailed statement must be filed with the local superintendent before instruction begins. This statement must include: the name and address of the child, the subjects to be taught, the hours of instruction, and the qualifications of the tutor. This is filed annually, before each instructional year begins.

4. Attendance reports are filed with the state board as required. Unlike the church school pathway — where an attendance register is maintained in the home and never submitted — the private tutor pathway requires active reporting to state-level authorities.

5. Subjects must match those taught in public schools. Church schools have no mandated curriculum. Private tutors must teach the subjects taught in Alabama public schools, aligning instruction with state standards even though no formal testing enforces this.

Why Almost No One Uses It

The certification requirement is prohibitive for the typical Alabama homeschooling family. The profile of the average Alabama homeschooler is a parent with a standard four-year degree (not in education) or less, teaching their own children at home. They do not have Alabama teaching certificates. Obtaining one specifically to homeschool would require returning to school for coursework, passing standardized tests, and applying to the state Department of Education — a process that takes months and costs thousands of dollars.

The rigid schedule requirement creates a second barrier. Three hours between 8 AM and 4 PM sounds like a low bar until you consider that one of the primary reasons families choose home education is scheduling flexibility. Part-time working parents, families with multiple children at different grade levels, and anyone whose child's learning peaks outside the traditional school hours would find the private tutor schedule counterproductive.

Between these two requirements, the private tutor pathway functions effectively as a legal pathway for families hiring a credentialed professional — a retired teacher, a certified specialist working with a special needs child — rather than as a practical option for parent-led homeschooling.

The Confusion It Creates

The problem with Ala. Code §16-28-5 is that some Alabama school administrators apply it incorrectly to families using the church school provision. When a parent announces they are "homeschooling," an administrator unfamiliar with the 2014 SB 38 changes may default to the tutor law and begin demanding credentials, schedules, and subject plans.

This is not legally correct. The church school pathway (Ala. Code §16-28-1) is an entirely separate legal vehicle from the private tutor law. A family enrolled in a church school is not subject to §16-28-5's requirements in any way — not the certification requirement, not the scheduling requirement, not the curriculum alignment requirement, and not the reporting requirement.

If you encounter this kind of administrative confusion, the relevant statute to cite is Ala. Code §16-1-11.1, which affirms that nonpublic K-12 schools (including church schools) are "primarily exempt from state regulation" and are "only required by state law to report the enrollment of students." Section 16-28-5 is irrelevant to church school families.

When the Private Tutor Pathway Does Apply

There are narrow circumstances where the private tutor pathway makes genuine sense:

Hiring a certified educator. If you are bringing in an external tutor who holds an Alabama teaching certificate to provide full-time instruction to your child — a retired teacher, a credentialed specialist — and you want that arrangement to have a formal legal structure, the tutor pathway provides it. This is occasionally used by affluent families who can afford to hire professional educators full-time.

Families where a parent happens to be a certified teacher. A parent who is already a certified Alabama educator and wants to homeschool can use the tutor pathway. The certification requirement is already met. Whether the tutor pathway's scheduling and reporting requirements are preferable to the far simpler church school pathway is another question — they usually are not.

Special needs private specialists. Families using a private certified specialist (a certified special education teacher, a board-certified behavior analyst with a teaching credential) in addition to the home program may use the tutor pathway to formalize that relationship. This is rare and usually unnecessary.

The Better Alternative for Most Families

If you are a parent without a teaching certificate who wants to educate your child at home, the church school provision is almost certainly the right pathway. Compared to the private tutor law, the church school pathway:

• Requires no teacher certification
• Imposes no minimum instructional hours or daily schedule
• Requires only a one-time enrollment filing with the local superintendent (not annual filing)
• Requires no curriculum alignment with public school standards
• Requires no reporting to the state board
• Grants total freedom over pedagogical approach and materials

The filing process is a single form submitted to the city or county superintendent's office under Ala. Code §16-28-7. You keep an attendance register in your home. That is the full extent of the state's legal reach into your home program.

The Alabama Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers both the church school pathway and the private school pathway in detail, including the exact enrollment form structure, filing procedures, and how to handle administrative pushback when officials incorrectly apply the tutor law to your situation.

A Note on Tutors as Supplemental Instruction

Hiring a private tutor to assist with specific subjects alongside your church school home program is entirely separate from the §16-28-5 private tutor pathway. You are not required to register that tutor with the state, and the tutor is not required to hold an Alabama teaching certificate unless you are using them to satisfy compulsory attendance requirements under §16-28-5.

If you are bringing in a math tutor three hours a week to supplement your curriculum, that is a private service arrangement — not a legal education pathway. Your child's compulsory attendance obligation is already satisfied by the church school enrollment. The tutor is simply enrichment.

The CHOOSE Act ESAs, which provide up to $2,000 per child annually for qualifying homeschool families, explicitly include tutoring services as a covered expense — meaning you can use state funds to pay for that supplemental instruction through approved providers on the ClassWallet platform.

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