Permission to Be Who We Are: How The Mission Academy Unlocked Choose Act Funding Without Changing Its Model
Written by: Jake Galloway, AVP of Membership, Middle States Association | Published May 27, 2026
"It's not like y'all vs us. This is a journey together. It has truly been a partnership."
— Tiffany Jones, Founder & Director, The Mission Academy
"There's Got to Be Something More"
Tiffany Jones spent four years teaching special education in a public school, watching the kids who needed flexibility the most get buried under paperwork and testing protocols. She knew education could work differently. Then, she discovered microschooling.
The microschooling model was everything she'd been looking for: an educational system built around meeting each student where they are. She adapted the concept for her community in rural southern Alabama, focusing on three foundations: guided by Christianity, driven by learners, and grounded in mastery-based learning. These principles formed the foundation of her microschool, which she opened The Mission Academy in Atmore, Alabama with five students.
Within months, the evidence was hard to ignore. A 10-year-old who arrived hating reading started asking to go to the library. A 12-year-old who arrived unable to read began reading. A student who used to fear being at school so much that they hid under desks started contributing to class discussions. More families showed up, drawn to the flexibility they couldn't find anywhere else. The model was working, and word spread.
But every time a new parent walked through the door, the first question was the same: "Are you accredited?" And every time, Tiffany had to piece together an answer -- “The curriculum we use has accreditation behind it…Here's how we meet standards…Let me walk you through each piece.” While this was true, it wasn’t landing with parents the way the work deserved. They might have nodded along, but she could feel their hesitation.
"How in the World Do I Explain This to Them and Have Them Hear Me?"
When Alabama's Choose Act passed, it began to offer up to $7,000 per student in funding. For Tiffany, this meant accreditation instantly went from the back-burner to an urgent need. But when she started looking for providers, she couldn’t stomach what she was seeing. The accreditation agencies she explored were built for conventional schools: high per-student fees that would eat into already thin revenue, requirements for credentialed teachers her community couldn't supply, and standardized curricula that contradicted the flexibility her families chose the school for.
But the deepest barrier wasn't cost or compliance, but translation. “Learner-driven,” “mastery-based,””a flexible curriculum”, “and faith-integrated”. Each term needed its own definition, and Tiffany couldn't figure out how to get any of these accreditors to hear what she was actually doing. "It was just very daunting to even figure out how to approach them, how to even word what we are."
"I Didn't Even Have a Question"
Then Middle States’ NGA Micro pathway showed up in Tiffany’s social media feed through the Rebel Educator, a voice she trusted within the microschool community. She read the description and immediately applied. "I was like, this is it."
She didn't have to translate microschooling into traditional-school language. She didn't have to justify her Christian identity. She didn't have to defend her flexible curriculum.
Her first conversation with Middle States left her with something she hadn't expected: encouragement. Not because it was easy, but because no one asked her to be something she wasn't. "I never felt like I had to hide who I was. I was able to just be myself."
The self-study pushed her to get things out of her head and onto paper. Policies she'd been meaning to codify were formalized. Background checks that were half-done were completed. The Declaration of Powerful Learning-- a document unique to Middle States-- became an unexpected communication tool. Instead of walking each parent through every piece of her model individually, she now has a one-pager that summarizes who The Mission Academy is.
Funded, Filed, and Finally Clear
The Mission Academy now qualifies as a K-12 private school under Alabama's Choose Act, The documentation Tiffany produced during the self-study became the foundation for her nonprofit filing, which she completed in a single day. After three years of volunteering her time, Tiffany may finally draw a salary next year.
The ripple effects go beyond just funding. Her families' biggest fear was that accreditation would force the school to change its methods. Tiffany was able to honestly tell them that nothing would change. That answer kept families in. And the accreditation question that used to require a five-minute defense now has a three-word answer: "Yes, we are."
Tiffany has also started giving back to the community that supported her. She recently served on a visiting team for another NGA Micro school in St. Augustine, shifting her perspective from someone going through the process to someone helping others navigate it. "It's not like y'all vs us. This is a journey together. It has truly been a partnership."
A New Location. A Sharper Story
This spring, The Mission Academy is moving to a new church with lower overhead and room to grow. The school board has voted to pursue an independent facility long-term, backed by partnerships across multiple churches.
Three years ago, she opened with five kids and a conviction. Now, she has a school with a plan.
Your Model. Your Terms.
What would change at your school if accreditation didn't ask you to become something different, but helped you become more of what you already are?
The Mission Academy is a Christian church-based microschool in South Alabama serving 14 students from Kindergarten through grade 12. The Mission Academy is an NGA Micro School.
