The Alabama Department of Education has postponed the release of a list of schools that will be classified as failing under the new Alabama Accountability Act.

The list was scheduled to be released today.

On Wednesday, Michael Sibley, a spokesman for the Department of Education, said officials had received a “legal inquiry” over the Accountability Act, “which must be addressed prior to the finalization of the list of failing schools and our regulations. This will result in a delay of (Thursday’s) expected release.”

The list is now scheduled to be released on Tuesday.

The Alabama Accountability Act defines a failing school as one designated as such by the state superintendent, or one that has been in the bottom six percent of state standardized testing for at least three of the previous six years.

Under the terms of the act, which was approved during the last legislative session, families in that school could apply for a tax credit equal to 80 percent of the cost of educating the student, which could be applied to transfers to a non-failing public school or a private school.