To innovate within a public school system, you must comply with federal, state, and system policy. Policies will differ based on your governance model (e.g., district public, charter, public-private partnerships). Because microschools are intended to be nimble, innovative, and learner-centered, they benefit from the most significant degree of autonomy the system can provide. You and the person or team responsible for preparing the system for a public microschool must be well-versed in all policies and requirements, as well as the workarounds that may grant you the autonomy needed for your school to thrive. 

Guiding Questions

• What governance model will you choose, and why? And how does it align with your defined purpose and goals?
• How will you plan for the greatest level of autonomy your system can offer, while still meeting necessary requirements?
• What steps will you need to take to get approval for your school’s design?
• What are your state’s regulations for opening and running a school? Examples: 
  • Teacher qualifications and certification
  • Staff: student ratio
  • Curriculum standards
  • Required assessments
  • Special education regulations
  • Health and safety regulations 
  • School calendar and hours
  • School oversight and teacher evaluation
  • School performance accountability
• What autonomy will you need to accomplish your goals for innovation? What workarounds (e.g., waivers, exceptions, etc.) are available to you?
• What supervision will the school have, and by whom?

Actions Steps

Determine your governance model. There are a few possible governance models for a public microschool. Including:

• District public microschools, like other district public schools, are overseen by a local school board. 
• Charter microschools would require you to negotiate a charter contract with an authorizing agency and would be overseen by its own governing board. A charter microschool might be designed as a new option within an existing charter network. 
• A public-private partnership is a collaboration between a public school system and a private entity, such as a university or business. In these cases, the school system maintains responsibility for meeting state and federal regulations while the private entity provides support with facilities and offerings. The private partnership may influence curriculum and pedagogy, but it does not have the final say.

Align governance with you your accountability system. In addition to identifying the governance structure, it is critical to determine whether your microschool will be formally recognized as a school by the local or state education agency with its own school code, or if it will operate as a school within a school. This distinction will shape your accountability requirements, funding mechanisms, reporting responsibilities, and degree of autonomy. In some states, acquiring a school code involves navigating a complex bureaucracy, while in others, it is more straightforward.

• Having a school code will give you more autonomy and independence, allowing you to view information and data about your learners more easily. If you are operating as a school-within-a-school, be sure to clarify how your microschool’s performance will be tracked and reported, and how you will maintain visibility into key student-level outcomes.

Identify the approval process for your design. Once you know your governance model, you will be able to fulfill the necessary steps to receive approval for your school’s design. While you may need to flesh out the details of your design to gain approval, it is important to understand process requirements and timelines.

Compile a complete list of federal and state regulations. Use the list under “guiding questions” to get you started. This list will serve as a starting point for your planning and help you determine where you may need to explore workarounds to secure the types of autonomy your school will need to fulfill its mission.

Identify areas where you believe you will need autonomy and pursue workarounds. The best innovation requires at least some autonomy because it involves trying something that hasn’t been done before. Making a microschool public requires some degree of fidelity to existing regulations, but there are often workarounds in the form of waivers and exceptions.

Tips and Examples

• Consider workarounds for regulations that may be challenging to meet. For example, dual enrollment and virtual learning help schools navigate gaps in teacher certifications. These structures also lead to more personalization, allowing students to take higher-level courses or college courses, for instance, and offering schedule flexibility.
• Consider staffing implications. In Tulsa, a woman hired to run a public microschool could not be appointed as principal because of restrictions on the number of hours a principal is allowed to teach; however, her background experience necessitated that she be compensated at that level. As a result, they included “director” in the position description to indicate that she would teach and also engage in leadership. Another teacher at a small public microschool was unable to enter grades into the district-wide system because her certification did not match the specific content area; therefore, she required a partner teacher from within the district to support her.
• You can start under another school’s local education agency designation (LEA) and acquire your own later. This may allow you to avoid the bureaucratic steps while you are working on launching your public microschool, leaving them for a calmer time.

Opportunity and Access

You can establish community forums and advisory boards to inform and support decision-making at your school. The more you can invest and engage your community, the more it is likely to (a) serve the community’s needs and (b) reflect its diversity. 

While you may want to seek workarounds for some regulations, it is essential to be as transparent as possible about your actions to ensure that your school and its leadership are held accountable for serving all students to consistent, high standards.