Magic City Acceptance Academy is one of the nation's first charter schools specifically catering to LGBTQ+ students and their allies. However, the school operates in direct conflict with state law and new federal opposition. Several Alabama lawmakers have expressed their intent to reevaluate the school's funding, as their federal counterparts have done.
Supporters of the school quickly label any dissenting views of the school's divisive approach as "bullying" or "bigotry," while opponents note that no school should be exempt from existing state law.
Here are five fast facts to understand the history of the school.
The school was rejected multiple times by state and local authorities before the Alabama Charter School Commission relented to public pressure and awarded the school a charter. The Commission denied the school’s application on May 12, 2020, April 23, 2020, and again on September 10, 2020. The Birmingham Board of Education also rejected the school in January 2020 and again in May 2020.
Their Charter was likely awarded in violation of Alabama’s Open Meetings Act. The Commission’s May 12, 2020, meeting agenda said, “Vote on the Approval or Denial of Breakthrough Charter School”, and the Sept. 10, 2020, meeting agenda specifically said, “to consider whether to approve or deny four charter school applications.”
Instead, an agenda item titled “Consideration of Request by Magic City Acceptance Academy” was included on an ordinary meeting notice for November 4, 2020. Note that this is different from the notice language that would have been included were the board chairman not so insistent on passing the charter without following the Alabama Open Meetings Law, which requires such boards and commissions to notice votes properly.
The school says it’s for LGBTQ+ students and “their allies.” Alabama state law specifically states, “A public charter school shall not limit admission based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, income level, disability, proficiency in the English language, or academic or athletic ability,” going on to say, “A public charter school may limit admission to students within a given age group or grade level and may be organized around a special emphasis, theme, or concept as stated in the school's charter application, but fluency or competence in the theme may not be used as a standard for enrollment.”
The school is likely to lose Federal funding due to an Executive Order by President Donald Trump on Jan. 31, 2025. Trump’s order may, in fact, threaten statewide funding if legislators, Governor Kay Ivey, and the state board of education do not take action to get the school in compliance with state law and federal guidance.
That order states, “My Administration will enforce the law to ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.; Title IX, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.; FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g; and the PPRA, 20 U.S.C. 1232h.”
Section three of the executive order specifically addressed the President’s goal of “Ending Indoctrination Strategy.”
It states in part:
“(a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, to advise the President in formulating future policy, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall provide an Ending Indoctrination Strategy to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, containing recommendations and a plan for:
(i) eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; and
(ii) protecting parental rights, pursuant to FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g, and the PPRA, 20 U.S.C. 1232h, with respect to any K-12 policies or conduct implicated by the purpose and policy of this order.
(b) The Ending Indoctrination Strategy submitted under subsection (a) of this section shall contain a summary and analysis of the following:
(i) All Federal funding sources and streams, including grants or contracts, that directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology:
(A) in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, or activities; or
(B) in K-12 teacher education, certification, licensing, employment, or training;”
5) The state legislature updated the Charter School statutes in 2023, passing an Education Policy Substitute to bill HB363 introduced by Representative Susan DuBose. That bill had the opportunity to, but it did not address the funding of schools that were out of compliance with state laws. Lawmakers are suggesting that the issue can/will be rectified in the Education Budget in the 2025 legislative session.
In a surprising move, the school has recently rebranded and begun hiding its LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+ affirming and DEI agenda. With new logos and the deletion of "LGBTQ+" and changing "affirming" to self-affirming, they are seemingly attempting to evade lawmakers' scrutiny.
These changes follow extensive reporting over the last two months showing that the school was pressing ever forward against the state’s divisive concepts bill in their handbook and through classroom instruction that stressed the “oppression” of men who present as women, illegal immigrants, and others, putting its funding and operations “in the crosshairs” of lawmakers.
Apryl Marie Fogel is a Birmingham resident who frequently appears on and guest hosts radio programs around the state. She can be reached at aprylmarie.fogel@1819news.com or on X and Facebook at @aprylmarie.
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