When Nathanael was in kindergarten, he told his mother, Diana Lopez, that he didn’t want to go back to school—ever. His teacher yelled at him, he said. And when Mrs. Lopez picked him up from school, he would often immediately start crying.
Nathanael has autism, and in a busy classroom of 25 children, the teacher seemed to have few strategies to work with him, Ms. Lopez recalled.
This year at a new school, Nathanael, 7, was happier. He shared a teacher with only six other students — not in a classroom, but in the entire school.
Nathanael attended a micro-school, an increasingly popular type of ultra-small, largely unregulated private school that often serves fewer students than those enrolled in a classroom at a traditional school.
The programs benefit from two trends: Since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted schooling, many parents have rethought their children’s education and are open to non-traditional options. And Republican lawmakers and state donors, who have long supported private school choice, are increasingly funneling money to small schools across the country, saying they give parents a chance to opt out of school districts at a reasonable cost — usually $5,000 to $10,000 per year.
Elementary school students are usually enrolled in their home states as homeschoolers. But the new generation of micro-schools, like the program Nathanael attended, Kingdom Seed Christian Academy, operate more like modern one-room schools, meeting in homes, church basements and storefronts.
These schools are often open four or five days a week, with full-time teachers, set curricula, and sometimes even standardized tests.
There is little data on schools. But the National Center for Small Schools, an advocacy group that researches the programs’ founders, estimates there are 95,000 small schools and homeschool groups nationwide, serving more than 1 million students. During the 2023-2024 academic year, one-third of schools received public funding through voucher programs, up from just 18 percent a year ago.
That number is expected to grow as eight states last year joined Arizona and West Virginia in providing near-universal access to education savings accounts, a type of voucher that can be used for homeschooling costs. In April, Georgia also passed a law to create the accounts.
An estimated 1 million American children are now using public funds for some form of private education, more than double the number from before the pandemic, according to new research from EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for school choice and monitors the sector.
Forty percent of preschoolers previously attended public school, and another one-third were previously homeschooled, according to the National Center for Preschoolers’ survey.
Conservative philanthropists have donated tens of millions of dollars to the programs, including Janine and Jeff Yass and the Koch family, major players in Republican politics.
But the appeal goes beyond the Republican base to include many black and Latino working- or middle-class parents — especially those whose children are disabled and who feel public schools aren’t meeting their needs.
Mrs. Lopez appreciates what the junior school gave Nathanael. She is more confident, she said, and is no longer afraid to be in a classroom.
“I feel like I have an emotionally intelligent child,” she said.
Anyone can open a preschool, although over two-thirds of founders are current or former licensed teachers. And these schools can teach anything they like, including biblical versions of science and history. The premises cannot be inspected. Background checks on staff members are sometimes unnecessary.
And while many charter school founders say they cater to students with disabilities, the programs don’t have to follow the federal Disabilities Act, and most don’t provide the treatments and counseling often available in public schools. Even Ms. Lopez said she may not send Nathanael back to Kingdom Seed in the fall because of the cost and his need for additional support for his autism.
As momentum grows for such schools, Georgia Democrats have argued that instead of investing in vouchers, more money should go to public schools, helping them lower class sizes and hire extra counselors and social workers who could serve disabled and low-income students. The state spent an average of $14,000 per student last year, below the national average of $16,000.
“We have groups that would like to impose their values and beliefs on all of our public schools,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Teachers, a teachers union. Small schools, he added, are “another method of removing their children from our public schools where they experience diversity.”
“So much of it is ministry”
Nathanael’s teacher, Desiree McGee-Greene, founded Kingdom Seed Christian Academy last August in the suburban home she shares with her parents, husband and son, a student at the school. A family living room is now a happy classroom, with walls decorated with letters, numbers and artwork.
On a sunny April morning, Nathanael joined three classmates, ages 5 to 7, on the carpet. The day began with Bible history as the children sequenced events from Genesis, ‘creation’ to ‘corruption’ to ‘destruction’.
Christianity is at the core of the curriculum, which was developed by Mrs. McGee-Greene, a former public and private school teacher. About a quarter of charter schools are faith-based, according to the National Center for Charter Schools.
“Anything that’s not in the Bible, that contradicts what God’s word says, is false,” Ms. McGee-Greene said in an interview explaining her educational philosophy. “The next principle is that God created everything. It wasn’t millions of years ago – that’s another great truth.”
After Bible study and a counting lesson in French, Mrs McGee-Greene’s husband, Michael Greene, a former teacher, stepped in for maths and science lessons. In the yard, students drew and wrote about insects and flowers in journals.
Kingdom Seed, which charges $500 a month for full-time tuition, is at the core of a family business. The school has also received a $10,000 grant from the VELA Education Fund, a nonprofit organization backed by the Koch and Walton families that bills itself as a “community of entrepreneurs” in education.
In addition, Ms. McGee-Greene works as a coach to teachers who want to start small schools and hosts a podcast sharing her advice. It also sells a personalized curriculum.
Many founders have multiple streams of income because micro-school fees often don’t add up to a competitive salary.
The average teacher salary in Georgia was about $68,000 last year, plus a benefits package. A typical micro-school might charge $7,000 per student for the school year and start with seven students—a significant pay cut for the founder, who must also now pay for rent, supplies and other expenses.
But many program founders said they trade income for autonomy and passion.
Marisa Chambers, who runs Tri-Cities Christian School, a small school just south of Atlanta, said she left her job as a public school principal in 2019 in part because she was frustrated with the state of education for students with disabilities. Many were several years behind academically—and without much more personal attention, he thought, unlikely to catch up.
“So much of it is ministry,” she said of her six-student program for 8- to 15-year-olds, which she described as Christian and social justice-oriented.
On a recent spring afternoon, the students, meeting in a church basement, wrote stories or read aloud, depending on their grade level. A lesson on the life cycle of a butterfly was aimed at younger children. But the older students, Ms. Chambers said, had recently studied the Civil War, and the kids who loved to write had met with a book publisher.
Alan, 12, first met Ms Chambers when he was in kindergarten at the public primary school where she worked. He was so withdrawn that he was diagnosed with selective mutism. When his parents or older sister visited, he was often seen separated from his peers.
This spring, she was smiling, easily telling this story to a stranger. “When I was little, I wouldn’t raise my hand,” he recalls. Now, with so much attention from Ms. Chambers and only five classmates, “I really like this school. I can learn more here.”
Alan’s sister Monica Laughton-Perez, 24, who helps look after him, said Alan had experienced “amazing” growth. But even with a significant discount, tuition is expensive for the family, and in the fall he will enroll in a charter school.
Expansion with taxpayer dollars
Ms. Chambers said she hopes to serve more low-income students in the 2025-2026 school year thanks to a law signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in April that will provide a $6,500 education bill to parents who withdraw their children from public schools rank in the bottom 25%. Households earning less than $125,000 for a family of four will be prioritized.
Not all junior schools will want to participate in the program. Although detailed regulations have not yet been issued, schools receiving the money must administer annual standardized tests in math and English and report the results to the state. They may also be required to employ at least one certified teacher.
Some small schools formalize their status. Keyanna and Jamal Moreau have pursued private school accreditation for CHOICE Preparatory Academy in Lilburn, Ga. Their program started out as a small school, but after six years, it’s not so small anymore.
It now serves 40 students, ages 8 to 17, in a building that was once a law office. Ms. Moreau, who studied education in college, founded the school after her own children struggled to read.
The program is secular, and like the Moraes, almost all of the students are black. Rigor is a focus. On a school day in April, the older students studied the roots of Greek and Roman words, while the younger ones built simple electromagnetic motors, with wires and batteries, on a large table.
Harmony, 11, explained why this environment worked better for her than public school. Here, she said, an adult sat next to her and explained each lesson or concept, step by step.
Ms Moreau said most parents would prefer public school if it worked for their children. Public schools are free and their students have access to clubs, sports teams and a wider range of peers.
But in reality, he said, those schools too often passed black students who hadn’t mastered basic concepts from grade to grade.
When students enroll in her program, “I have to build my kids back up,” she said. “They think they can’t do it, that they’re dumb, they’re uneducated.”
“Parents are waking up,” he added, “especially in the black community.”
Susan C. Beachy contributed to the research.
