The Alabama Public Charter School Commission approved its first merger of two charter schools Monday, along with its 2028 budget recommendation.
During its regularly scheduled meeting, the commission unanimously approved an application to merge Invictus Career Institute and Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School.
Invictus Career Institute is a medical and health care career-focused public charter school planned for the Birmingham metro area. The school is expected to begin accepting sixth- through 12th-grade students in fall 2027.
Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School is an aviation-focused public charter school in Bessemer serving ninth- through 12th-grade students.
Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School CEO Ruben Morris spoke in favor of the proposal.
“We want to make sure that students in this community have viable options and that there is no unnecessary competition for enrollment,” Morris said.
“We’ve got great options available around career and technical education and career-connected learning that we present this in a way that best suits kids,” he added. “And I think this option gives us that opportunity to provide this service to kids and families.”
The commission approved a new policy last month allowing charter schools to merge under one governing board, citing the possibility that the policy could be used in cases of an “enrollment concern.”
According to a report the commission highlighted in January, Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School was among schools that did not meet projected enrollment levels during the 2025-26 school year. The report found the school had 161 students enrolled, compared with a projected enrollment of 284 to 563 students.
Commission Executive Director Logan Searcy led the budget update, presenting a proposal to request a 5 percent budget increase for the commission in fiscal year 2028.
The commission received a $1.1 million budget for fiscal year 2027, an increase of $17,428 from fiscal year 2026.
New Schools for Alabama, a nonprofit organization that helps build and develop public charter schools in the state, received $400,000 from the Legislature in fiscal year 2027, level with the previous year’s funding.
The commission unanimously approved the fiscal year 2028 budget request.
The commission also unanimously approved five-year charter renewals for Accel Academy, a Mobile school serving sixth- through 12th-grade students, and Empower Community School, a Bessemer school serving kindergarten through seventh grade.
Commissioner Cynthia McCarty requested that Empower Community School provide the commission with a plan to improve its math scores by using math coaches or resources provided through the Numeracy Act, a 2022 state law designed to improve math skills among public school students from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Empower Community School Executive Director Meredith Davis told McCarty that although she agreed the school’s math scores are low, the charter school is seeking to improve them through Numeracy Act resources and work with the Alabama Department of Education’s Office of Math Instruction.
Davis said the school has hired a math coach and is using the state curriculum and outside coaching for math teachers in hopes of improving scores. The school also has hired certified secondary school math teachers for the 2026-27 school year.
“When we started this school, a lot of our students came from surrounding schools with very, very low math scores,” Davis said. “And so, we spent a lot of energy trying to close that gap, and it has not closed as fast as some of the reading achievements that we’ve seen.”
“We are positive that we will see some improvements in time in the area of math,” she added.
The commission also unanimously voted to purchase SolvEd K12, an education technology and data analytics platform.
The commission will pay for the platform with a grant it received from the federal Charter Schools Program.
