The healthiest relationships between a microschool founder and their board are always a work in progress. Whether board members serve as governing trustees with decisionmaking authority or even in an advisory capacity, taking steps to keep the board at full useful capacity and productively informed and involved can pay important dividends. And because microschool founders are busy people, their productivity can be vital to a healthy microschool, especially when it's well managed..
Here is a list of 8 specific roles and functions which can make a board valuable to the microschool it supports. As founders consider the composition and roles on their own boards, however they are organized, it is the Center’s hope that these examples represent useful ways to consider in evolving this crucial relationship to best serve the work you lead:
Business Acumen and Experience. If your microschool is your first business enterprise, you’re not alone. In fact, half of all microschool founders are in the same boat you are. Being able to benefit from board members' experiences running their own businesses can be of real value, whether their guidance helps you to be more efficient and save time, or simply gets you a better night’s sleep from not worrying.
Building Community Partnerships and Relationships. How well connected is your microschool to the business and civic communities around you? Microschooling is a movement rooted in our communities, and the better connected you are to yours, the better positioned your microschool will be to benefit from aligned goals. Active relationships with Chambers of Commerce or Rotary Club members can create opportunities for your students, expand volunteering, service projects or mentorships and career learning, and even bring new sponsorships, resources and grants/donations to help enrich your program offerings.
Budget and Finance Support. Having a professional on your board who can share their expertise in budgeting and managing/tracking finances can be valuable, and also can save founders time they can then apply to other core functions of running their microschool.
Fundraising. Some boards choose to make raising money an expectation of board members. Whether you do this or not, building relationships with funders, grant-writing and researching potential funders are all important roles board members can play.
Parent Perspective. A voice on the board representing the parent of a child currently at your microschool can be a valuable resource. If your microschool has a Parent Teacher Organization, you might consider delegating this role to that body. There are often times that parents’ perspectives can help inform your decisionmaking in meaningful ways. And facilitating a healthy flow of information in both directions between board and parents is also important.
Educator Experience. Nearly a third of microschool founders have never been professional educators. This example of the nourishing pluralism and diversity of the microschooling movement indicates a healthy range of choices being made available to families. And oftentimes, microschool founders are themselves parents looking to create options to better serve their own children. Often founders with noneducation backgrounds will hire educators to manage teaching and learning. All the more reason why an experienced educator's presence on the board can help inform decisionmaking in ways that can prove valuable.
Recruiting New Families. Running a microschool is hard work, and the time commitment required often extends well beyond the school day. So having board members who can volunteer to put in the time to help bring in new families to help your microschool grow to its desired capacity (which can often be more time consuming than founders expect), and also to be a visible presence out in your community, is a function that can serve microschools well.
Social Media. Maintaining an effective presence on social media is time consuming work, and is done best by somebody who enjoys it. While founders and staff can help contribute to keeping social media posts fresh, lively and engaging, this is another area where a diligent board member can be a real asset.
Hopefully these observations can prove helpful to you in recruiting and managing an effective board for your microschool. Whether your board members are governing directors or serve in a supportive advisory capacity, these functions represent ways a board can support its microschool meaningfully. Feel free to share with your current board as a way to help them hone their focus in these ways, and others.