While Congress and Trump Administration leaders press onward with budget negotiations which may include a first-ever federal scholarship program for K-12 students, a growing number of eligible children who attend nonprofit microschools are able to access certain resources and services already.
If your microschool is among the many serving children who would qualify for services or resources in public schools, there is a good chance you can opt to participate in programs that provide them with “equitable services,” or funding for you to provide these services.
Federal law requires that certain funding for certain categories of federal education funding for eligible students, must be shared with children attending private nonprofit schools. Generally, the largest of these programs in terms of resources is Title IA funds for services for children from financially disadvantaged households or neighborhoods or other qualifying factors.
Equitable services/shares under federal Title IA, Title II, Title IV and Title III may be included.
Eligibility also depends on your microschool being an IRS-designated nonprofit organization. As long as this requirement is met, microschools may either be organized as private schools under the requirements of their state, or even as learning centers serving children whose families follow their state’s requirements for homeschoolers, provided the microschool is an IRS-designated nonprofit.
Students at religiously affiliated microschools are eligible for these programs, so long as they meet other requirements and their microschool is operated as a nonprofit.
Your microschool's participation is optional, and if you do participate and receive funding, you will be subject to certain requirements.
If your microschool qualifies and has interest, the best place to begin is with your local public school district, or maybe with a friendly private school leader who operates nearby, who can help you find the person in the district administration whose job it is to administer this program.
Services or funding for services under this program must come through your local school district, and different states and school districts have a wide range of different policies to comply with program requirements to support eligible students. In many districts, funding is made available according to formulas each has approved. This funding must be used to provide approved services, which may either be provided directly by your microschool or through use of a contractor. Other school districts will not make funding available, but will make services available through certain, district-approved contractors. That is something you will need to learn from your school district.
"States should have clearly outlined procedures for nonpublic schools to access appropriate funds, and these procedures should be well communicated to school leaders," says veteran West Virginia microschool leader Michael Parsons, cofounder of Vandalia Community School in Charleston. West Virginia is one of a handful which define microschools in state law, and with many microschools there serving children who would be eligible for these federal title programs, state policies must keep up and ensure that the federal requirements for including them are met by every state.
How much funding is available? For Title IA, a common amount is just over $600 per eligible student for a school year, although formulas can vary from one school district to another. Other federal title funding, such as Title II funding or professional development, can be available additionally.
Some examples of the kinds of services available under Title IA funding include expanded learning time, including before- and after-school programs; one-on-one tutoring or mentoring programs; summer school programs; family literacy programs; counseling programs; and instruction using take-home computers.
You can read more details here, or from this U.S. Department of Education guidance, Title I Education Services, May 2023.