The school is self-governed through a weekly, democratic all-school meeting run by students in Robert's Rules.

The school runs on a shoestring budget as a tradeoff for its financial independence and accessibility to low-income students.

[2] It was founded in 1969 by Mary Leue, who wanted to start a school that was free both by "democratic principles and accessibility to poor children".

In 2006, the school had ten teachers, four interns, and a number of parent volunteers for 58 students between the ages of three and fourteen (pre-K to eighth grade).

Adults facilitate more than lead, and rarely intervene in the meetings, which are intended to teach "mediation and compromise".

[2] The school privileges its financial independence and accessibility over sufficient budgeting, a result of Leue's governance choices.

The Free School does not receive government funding and instead subsists on student tuition and supplemental income from rental properties and "extensive fundraising".

The school also provides inexpensive (or free) preschool and daycare for young children, operates a car collective (wherein a dozen people share a minivan), and provides low-interest loans through a community credit system.

[2] The Free School intentionally foregoes government funding to avoid external control and needless bureaucracy.

[5] A volunteer staff performs the school's administrative duties, and as of 2012, six teachers are employed full-time at forty-hour weeks for a US$11,000 yearly stipend.

[5] Younger teachers have expressed more of an interest in racial and social justice, and have tried to increase the school's diversity.

[5] It later became the separate Harriet Tubman Democratic High School, and was accredited by the Department of Education.

[9] Free School graduates apply to college with essays and interviews rather than standardized test scores.

[10] Tubman High School graduates have attended Clarkson University and Hudson Valley Community College.

[7] Albany Free School alumni have continued into occupations including development director at an alternative education organization, and an undersecretary for the Governor of New York.

[2] She thought that the school sounded "like unschooling, but in a group setting", where children are free to cross age lines, learn from older idealists, and manage their own affairs.

[2] Taylor added that the practical needs of tending the chicken coop and vegetables turned "necessity into virtue" as lack of money became "self-reliance and simple living".