New Microschools for a New School Year

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

When Hilton Horizons Academy in Kingsport, Tennessee opened its doors on August 5th, it became one of the first in a growing number of new schools to launch this academic year.

“I felt there had to be something different,” said the school’s founder, Candice Hilton, who quit her job as a public school teacher last December after seven years in the system. Her daughter had just started kindergarten that fall and it provided a new lens through which Hilton could view today’s schooling. “Her teacher was amazing,” said Hilton, “but she told me how bored she was doing worksheets.” 

At the same time, Hilton was reflecting on all of the required standardized testing in today’s schools and the pressures it was creating for students and teachers alike. “We tested the kids so many days straight. It was just a sad space to be in for our education system,” recalled Hilton.

After leaving the public school system, Hilton began researching what it would take to homeschool her daughter. It was through that research that she decided to become a microschool founder. She opened Hilton Horizons Academy in a cheerful rented space inside a culinary school with a dozen K-8 students. A hybrid microschool, Hilton’s students attend the mixed-age program two or three days a week for individualized academics and enrichment. Tuition for the three-day program is $4,900 a year. All of Hilton’s students are legally homeschooled, with the vast majority of them new to homeschooling this academic year. “Most of my students are coming from public school. Most of them are first-time homeschoolers,” said Hilton, adding that only two of her current students were previously homeschooled.

At Noema Learning, which opened in Goodyear, Arizona one week after Hilton Horizons Academy, founder Elisa Hernandez’s 14 microschool students are a mix of homeschoolers and those coming from traditional public or private schools. A high school English teacher who taught in the public school system for 10 years, Hernandez quit for reasons similar to Hilton. Post-Covid, she noticed that schools became even more focused on standardized testing, perhaps as a result of more attention being paid to alleged learning loss during pandemic school closures. “There was a shift where we were told to teach to that standardized test. Your worth as a teacher was now tied to that score, or your students’ scores. That was a big shift for me,” recalled Hernandez. 

Last year, she began a small tutoring business on the side while still teaching full-time in the public schools. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to turn the tutoring business into a dedicated microschool, leaving her teaching job at the end of the school year in May. Hernandez wanted to create the type of school in which she knew children would thrive. “I think that learning should be fun and learning should be personalized. If those two things are happening, that can be groundbreaking and world-changing,” she said.

Students attend Hernandez’s home-based program for sixth to twelfth graders up to four days a week at an annual cost of $5,600. She intentionally set her tuition below the approximately $7,000 that all Arizona K-12 students are now eligible to receive under the state’s universal education savings account (ESA) program. “I wanted to make sure that they had enough money left over to do sports, clubs, whatever it is that they want to do,” said Hernandez.

Microschools and similarly creative schooling options gained increased popularity in the wake of the pandemic, and they continue to gain momentum. Not only are new schools and spaces opening across the U.S. but existing ones are expanding. 

New data from VELA, a philanthropic nonprofit organization and entrepreneur community, reveals that over 90 percent of the unconventional learning environments it surveyed had more learners last fall than they did at their launch date, and the median compound rate of growth for these programs was 25 percent a year. 

As parent demand for more individualized, innovative education options grows, more everyday entrepreneurs are stepping up to meet that demand, while finding greater personal and professional satisfaction as school founders. Many of them are former public school teachers like Hilton and Hernandez who grew tired of one-size-fits-all standardized schooling and wanted to create an alternative. According to its 2024 sector analysis, the National Microschooling Centers estimates that over 70 percent of today’s microschool founders are current or former licensed educators.

“I’m not a business person. I’m an English teacher,” Hernandez says, acknowledging that she initially felt intimidated by the idea of starting a school. She, like Hilton, decided to join the KaiPod Catalyst program earlier this year to gain support and mentorship before, during, and after launch. Started by Amar Kumar, founder of the national microschool network, KaiPod Learning, the Catalyst program provides business startup support and ongoing operational assistance to school founders. The cohort-style program is free to participants, with a small revenue-sharing agreement if they decide to launch a school following the program.

“We started KaiPod Catalyst because we saw tens of thousands of educators looking for alternative career paths in many of the same communities where families were looking for alternative education options,” Kumar told me, adding that applications for the fall cohort are now open.

The new school founders I spoke with say the support from KaiPod Catalyst has been invaluable as they move from their role as teachers to teacher-entrepreneurs. “I think that something that stopped me from starting a microschool earlier was the lack of mentorship,” said Amanda Lucas, who taught in private and charter schools throughout New York City for about a decade. She also participated in a KaiPod Catalyst cohort earlier this year. “I didn’t have any mentors, and I didn’t have anyone to go to and to help me get through the tough times and answer questions,” added Lucas. 

Her microschool, Lucas Literacy Lab, launches on September 4th in a leased, home-like space in Old Bridge, New Jersey. She currently has 10 enrolled students, ages 6 to 13, with two additional teachers. Her full-time program costs $15,000 a year, with various part-time enrollment options. 

Lucas expects to expand in the coming months given the increased number of inquiries she has been receiving from interested families, but she plans to remain a microschool for homeschoolers, rather than become a recognized private school. “Private schools, like charter schools, don’t give you all of the freedom that a microschool does,” said Lucas. “I want full autonomy, and I want absolute freedom in education. I also really believe in homeschooling and if we have too many students, I won’t be able to tailor the education the way that I want to,” she said.

As the new school year begins, new schools are sprouting across the country, offering the personalization, freedom, and flexibility that enable both students and teachers to flourish.

Disclosure: Stand Together Trust provides financial support to Vela Education Fund and The 74.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter