Covenant Academy of Mobile Cuts Ribbon on First High School, Set to Open Grades 9-12 in August 2027

MOBILE, Ala. — Covenant Academy of Mobile marked a major step in its growth Wednesday, Oct. 28, holding a ribbon cutting for its first high school campus. The tuition-free public charter school plans to open grades nine through 12 in August 2027.

The school currently serves kindergarten through eighth grade. Once the high school opens, Covenant Academy will offer a complete K-12 education under one charter.

A STEM focus tied to Mobile’s industries

Head of School Jessica Reed said Covenant Academy is a STEM-focused charter school, centered on science, technology, engineering and math, and that the new high school is designed to strengthen ties with Mobile’s growing industries.

“We are a STEM-focused charter. And so, our future is with the industry here in Mobile. So, we are interested in making more partnerships, getting our students in a STEM-focused, and just making a better product for the city of Mobile, Alabama,” Reed said.

The Mobile area’s economy leans heavily on fields that rely on STEM skills, including aerospace manufacturing, shipbuilding, the Port of Mobile and its related logistics businesses, chemical plants and health care. Schools across the region have expanded career and technical programs in recent years to prepare students for those jobs, and Reed said partnerships with local industry are central to Covenant Academy’s plans for its high school.

Covenant Academy of Mobile plans for 500 to 600 high school students

The high school is expected to eventually serve 500 to 600 students in grades nine through 12.

The ceremony also honored the school’s current eighth graders as the founding freshman class, the Class of 2031. When the high school opens in August 2027, those students will be its first ninth graders, and they are expected to become Covenant Academy’s first high school graduates.

For those students and their families, the high school means they will not have to change schools after eighth grade.

A school that has grown quickly

Covenant Academy opened in August 2023 as a free public charter school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, with nearly 300 students enrolled in its first year. Founders Spencer and Nikki Ruggs said at the time that they planned to grow the school to serve kindergarten through 12th grade by 2030.

In its first year, the school emphasized language learning, placing both a native Spanish speaker and a native English speaker in each kindergarten classroom.

Since then, the school has added grades and now reaches through eighth grade. Opening the high school in 2027 would put the school on track to complete that expansion.

The public charter school is separate from a privately owned Mobile daycare of a similar name that serves young children.

How charter schools work in Alabama

Alabama lawmakers authorized public charter schools in 2015 with the Alabama School Choice and Student Opportunity Act. Charter schools are public schools that receive public funding and do not charge tuition, but they operate independently of traditional school districts under a contract, or charter, that spells out their academic goals and how they will be held accountable.

Charters in Alabama can be approved by a local school board that chooses to act as an authorizer or by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission. They must follow state testing and accountability requirements, and they are open to students regardless of where they live within the school’s enrollment area. When more students apply than a charter school has room for, state law requires the school to admit students by lottery.

Supporters say charter schools give families more choices and allow schools to try specialized approaches, such as a STEM focus. Critics have raised concerns about the effect on funding for traditional public school systems. The number of charter schools in Alabama has grown steadily since the law took effect, with several operating in the Mobile area.

What families should know

• School: Covenant Academy of Mobile, a tuition-free public charter school
• Current grades: Kindergarten through eighth grade
• High school opening: August 2027, for grades nine through 12
• Expected enrollment: 500 to 600 high school students at full size
• Focus: Science, technology, engineering and math, with industry partnerships
• First graduating class: Class of 2031, today’s eighth graders

Families interested in enrollment for the high school or the lower grades can contact Covenant Academy of Mobile directly for application dates and requirements.