Location: North Central Austin (Hyde Park neighborhood)
4001 Speedway
Austin, TX 78751
Students served: Grades K–8
Current enrollment: 80–90 students
Model/philosophy: AHB Community School is an accredited, secular private school with a mission of offering a community where children love learning, teachers love teaching, and families thrive. AHB works to preserve our students’ natural curiosity and enthusiasm for learning while fostering kind, confident, critical thinkers who are prepared for a life of learning and community engagement.
Special features: Mixed-age classes with co-teachers make for a small student-to-teacher ratio (11 to 1). A supportive, student-centered environment values social-emotional learning alongside academic rigor. Thematic, interdisciplinary curriculum encourages curiosity, creative problem solving, and hands-on learning. The condensed academic schedule respects children’s natural stamina, values family life, and encourages community involvement.
Schedule: Core Program runs 9am–2:30pm, 4 days a week, Monday–Thursday. Middle School offers an optional 5th day on Fridays. Optional before- and/or after-care and elective classes available to extend your day from 8am to 3:30pm. Annual calendar loosely follows AISD.
Tuition: $11,600 per year for Core Programs, plus enrollment fee of $1,000
Contact: Shari Vars, Head of School | shari@ahbcs.org | 512-299-5487
Each listing in this alphabetical directory gives you a snapshot of a small, independent, alternative school in the Austin area.
This frequently updated list spans several pages, with navigation buttons at the bottom. Clicking on the name of a school will take you to its own website. To easily find schools by geographical area, see our Alt Ed Maps page. If you know of a school that’s missing from this directory, please drop a note here, and see Alt Ed Austin’s criteria for “alternative” and “school.” You may also be interested in our directories of other recommended schools (which are mostly larger or more specialized or religiously oriented), as well as special programs for children and adults.
Full disclosure: Alt Ed Austin founder Teri Sperry has ties with several of the schools listed on this site. Her child, now in graduate school, attended two of them years ago. She has friends who direct, teach at, or are otherwise involved in others. Some programs choose to advertise from time to time on Alt Ed Austin as Sponsoring Partners. She firmly believes that all of the schools featured on this site (including the ones to which she has no personal connection and those from which she receives no advertising fees) are good choices for some kids, each for different reasons.
