Skip to content
A New Page
Sign in Free week

Alabama parents · 7 min read

What Can You Buy With Alabama CHOOSE Act Funds?

What your CHOOSE Act ESA covers, how ClassWallet works, approved categories with examples, and what is not allowed.

Art from The Dig, episode 2: the stone stairway opening down into the earth

From The Dig · Episode 2“Every mark lit gold in the order you had read them… and a stone stairway spiraled down into the earth.”

See the Alabama steps

Program rules change; your program office has the final word on every purchase.

The short version

  1. Your CHOOSE Act Education Savings Account covers more than you might think: curriculum, software, tutoring and materials.
  2. Textbooks, online learning programs and certain therapies are eligible too, and you spend the money through ClassWallet, Alabama’s payment platform.
  3. This category stretches your dollars furthest because a single license often covers a full year of instruction.

Short answer: your CHOOSE Act Education Savings Account covers more than you might think: curriculum, software, tutoring and materials. Textbooks, online learning programs and certain therapies are eligible too, and you spend the money through ClassWallet, Alabama's payment platform. Homeschooling families in particular are often surprised by how much of their actual materials list qualifies. Here is the plain-English version of what the money covers, how to spend it, and what to avoid.

First, the basics of the CHOOSE Act

  • How much: up to $7,000 per student in a participating school, and up to $2,000 per homeschooled student (with a $4,000 family cap for homeschool students).
  • Status: Pays today You can pay us straight from your funds through ClassWallet. Amounts and rules shift year to year, so confirm the live number with your program before you buy. Status as of October 15, 2026.
  • Who qualifies now: the 2026-27 program year is limited by income and priority groups, and the program opens to all Alabama families in 2027-28. If you were not eligible this year, next year you likely will be.
  • How you spend it: nothing is reimbursed to your bank account. You spend through ClassWallet, the state's platform, either in its marketplace or by paying an approved education service provider directly.

Ready to try one night together?

Start the free reading checkor read one night free, no account

7 days free. No card.

The approved categories, with real examples

1. Tuition and fees

The headline use: tuition at a participating private school. If your child attends one, this is usually where most of the $7,000 goes.

2. Curriculum and textbooks

Complete curricula and the books that go with them. For homeschool families this is the core category: math programs, language arts, science kits, history, and structured reading curricula all fit here.

3. Tutoring

Tutoring from approved providers. Worth knowing before you spend: certified structured-literacy tutors typically run $80 to $120 an hour, which consumes a $2,000 homeschool allotment in about five weeks of twice-a-week sessions. We wrote an honest breakdown in what reading tutors cost.

4. Educational software and online learning

Online curricula, learning apps, and educational software subscriptions from approved vendors. This category stretches your dollars furthest because a single license often covers a full year of instruction. A $299 annual license leaves most of a homeschool allotment for everything else, where the same year of skill-building through a tutor would cost thousands.

One example in this category: A New Page, our structured-literacy program, from first sounds to confident reading, for struggling and dyslexic readers ages 3 to 18, is an approved CHOOSE Act education service provider. Families can pay for the $299 annual license with CHOOSE funds through ClassWallet. Each license is for one student. If your child fights reading every night, start with the free reading check first so you know exactly where they stand before you spend anything.

5. Education services and therapies

Services for students with disabilities, including certain therapies from approved providers. If your child has a diagnosed learning disability such as dyslexia, ask the program office what documentation opens this category for you.

Art from Tidewatch, episode 1: The Light That Forgot How to Read
From Tidewatch · Episode 1“You held the chart in the warm lantern light and let your eyes walk slowly along the glowing marks, the way Tom taught you, never rushing, letting each one say its sound before you moved to the next.”

What you cannot buy

  • Anything from a vendor or provider who is not approved in the program. Check before you commit money.
  • General household items, electronics without a clear educational purpose, and entertainment subscriptions.
  • Anything outside the program year's rules. Categories and caps can shift year to year, and the program office has the final word on every purchase.

How to actually spend it (the ClassWallet part)

  • Marketplace purchases: log in to ClassWallet, shop the marketplace, and check out with your CHOOSE funds. No money leaves your pocket.
  • Direct pay: for approved education service providers, you pay the provider straight from your ClassWallet account.
  • Keep everything. Receipts, invoices, and your child's progress documentation. Clean records make every future approval easier.

A smart order of operations for a struggling reader

If reading is the battle in your house, here is the sequence we would use with a $2,000 homeschool allotment:

  1. Step 1, free: run the free reading check so you know where your child is ready to start and the specific skill that is breaking down. No funds spent.
  2. Step 2, $299: a year of structured-literacy instruction through A New Page, starting where the check found your child is ready, for one student.
  3. Step 3, the remaining ~$1,600: books your child can actually decode, the rest of your curriculum, and targeted tutoring hours only if the data says you need them.

Program rules, amounts, and eligibility change; the CHOOSE Act program office has the final word on every purchase. This guide is educational, not legal or tax advice. Status as of October 15, 2026.

Alabama families: see exactly how to use your funds for A New Page

Approved CHOOSE Act education service provider. $299 a year for one student, through ClassWallet.

See the Alabama steps

Not sure your child needs it? The reading check is free, no account and no card (we keep only your email; your child's name stays on your device), and you keep the result either way.

Keep reading

Emberwing: Grandpa places a glowing dragon egg into a child's hands at dusk

What A New Page is

A reading program you do together, at home.

Fifteen minutes a night, side by side, from first sounds to confident reading, for ages 3 to 18. Your child reads the hero’s lines in a real story, built only from the sounds your child has learned. You read the rest from a script, so you never have to guess what to say.

Start your free week

Fifteen minutes a night.
A real story.

Start the free reading checkor read one night free, no account

7 days free. No card.