Original Research by School Decision on Barnabas School of Leadership
Barnabas School of Leadership is a charter school district in Houston County, Alabama, created to operate a single school by the same name. The school was intended to serve students in Dothan, but it never opened. As a result, almost every piece of data a parent or resident would normally use to understand a school is absent: there are no enrollment numbers, no student demographics, no state test results, no graduation rate, and no information on programs, staffing, or discipline. This is not a case of missing records; it is because the school never had students to report.
Publicly reported accounts indicate that the Alabama Public Charter School Commission revoked the district’s charter in April 2024. School officials had previously stated the school would open the year before, but it never did, due to financial and staffing problems. The state commission rejected the plans on an eight-to-zero vote, effectively ending the effort. Families who had enrolled their children were forced to find other options.
The district is compared among Houston County’s districts, a set that includes only two entities. With no operational data, no meaningful comparison can be made. The school’s lifecycle status is listed as “future,” but given the charter revocation, that designation appears to be a remnant rather than an active plan.
Barnabas School of Leadership exists as a legal entity on paper, but it has never served a student. A parent researching this district will find no academic pathway, no peer environment, and no housing market context to evaluate, because there is nothing to evaluate. The practical takeaway is straightforward: anyone looking for a school in Dothan or Houston County will need to turn to other districts—public, private, or charter—that are actually operating. This school is not an option.
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