They signed a lease with the local historical society for the and checked with the city to ensure that a tiny alternative school could occupy the building, erected in 1905 by a son of the city鈥檚 founder. They opened in February 2021 and moved in with just four students.

A month later, city officials broke the bad news: The Bryan House was actually zoned as a 鈥渓earning center,鈥� an informal space for tutoring and exhibitions 鈥� not a school. It had a sprinkler system, fire alarms and a fire escape. But if they were to stay, the historical society would have to install massive metal fire doors, among other changes. 

When the historical society balked, the couple persuaded it to let them back out of their lease. The change forced them to go virtual for the rest of the school year as they searched for a new space.

鈥淭hat nearly broke us,鈥� Slaven said.

But new regulations, approved last year by state lawmakers, could save future microschools from similar headaches. The regulations say private schools can occupy existing spaces from museums to movie theaters without seeking local government approval. 

Making more locations accessible to microschools could help the movement grow nationally, just as education saving account laws in places like Florida and elsewhere have opened them up for consideration by families who otherwise couldn鈥檛 afford them.

The new Florida regulations, Slaven said, 鈥渁re a really big deal for the ecosystem.鈥� If they鈥檇 been in place two years earlier, he and his students could have stayed at Bryan House. 

Florida was already a leader in the burgeoning microschool movement 鈥� the group counts more than 250 programs in its current directory. But the new regulations, first reported by , could be groundbreaking, advocates say, tempting lawmakers elsewhere to do the same. passed the first law limiting state regulation of 鈥渓earning pods鈥� in 2021 and similar changes have since taken place in .

鈥淭he first generation, so many of these were in church basements or people’s homes,鈥� said Michael McShane, director of national research at , a policy organization. If the sector is to grow, he said, 鈥渢hey need to be able to operate in more readily available spaces.鈥�

McShane and a colleague that between 1.1 and 2.1 million school-aged children nationwide, or 2% to 4%, used microschools as their main provider.

But microschools often face maddening regulatory challenges. McShane recalled hearing from an educator converting a commercial space into a microschool who installed half-inch drywall. Regulators said he had to rip it out and install the three-quarter-inch variety. In another instance, a microschool seeking to set up shop at an old mini-golf course had to not just decommission a play windmill but raze it.

Nathan Hoffman, senior legislative director for the , a policy group founded by former Republican Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said the changes build on Florida鈥檚 2023 that 鈥渞eally blew the doors open on what’s possible鈥� in different forms of schooling. He noted that upwards of 400,000 to 450,000 Florida students are now receiving taxpayer-supported scholarships to attend private schools, including microschools. 鈥淚t’s created, I think, a whole new way that parents are interacting with K-12 education that we’re only just now getting to understand.鈥�

But policymakers are also realizing that if microschools are to thrive, they can鈥檛 be regulated the same as larger schools, Hoffman said. 鈥淭hey’re only serving 30, 40, maybe 50 families. They’re not serving hundreds of families. The size of the buildings that are necessary, the land that’s necessary, is not going to be the same.鈥�

In that respect, microschools are reminiscent of a similar movement that began more than 30 years earlier.

Don Soifer, CEO of the , said the new microschooling founders remind him of 鈥渢hose life-changing educators that we had in the beginning of the charter school movement 鈥� it’s fun to be around them.鈥�

A longtime school choice advocate, Soifer opened his own microschool near Las Vegas during the Covid pandemic. In the process, he began consulting with other operators and soon realized they needed help navigating the technical, legal and pedagogical obstacles they faced. He now trains school leaders and offers them access to digital learning and student management tools from providers that typically deal only with school districts. 

Families taking on all the risk

Not everyone welcomes the new changes 鈥� or the explosive growth of the sector. 

The Florida League of Cities the legislation, saying it would prevent cities and counties from having a say in school rezoning.

Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University and author of the The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, noted that Florida, like other states, requires students to be de-enrolled in public school to be eligible for education savings accounts, which give families state funds for tuition or homeschooling expenses. These accounts have helped microschools flourish, since they offer families 鈥渙ne more place to spend that money.鈥�

To that end, Cowen called microschools 鈥渢he food trucks of the new education industry.鈥� 

As with food trucks, he said, these new models may allow for schools to quickly open and offer students new options. But even if they鈥檙e appealing, he said, safety monitoring 鈥渋s probably poorer.鈥� The hours are sporadic, and even in the best case, he said, it 鈥渃ould pick up and leave tomorrow 鈥� or close altogether because the margins didn’t work for the business model.鈥�

That risk-reward equation, he said, 鈥渋s fine when you’re shopping for a taco. Not when you’re shopping for a school that’s intended to give your kid a strong start in life.鈥� Families also take on virtually all of the financial risks associated with microschools, he said, especially those backed by .

Hoffman, the Florida legislative director, said the food truck analogy is 鈥渆xtremely outdated,鈥� invoking fears similar to those of early homeschooling as serving isolated rural, off-the-grid families. 鈥淭hat’s just not the case anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he fastest growing segment of the homeschool population are 鈥� in urban areas.

Likewise, he said, microschools 鈥渁re fine options for families that want to use them.鈥�

Soifer said microschooling will likely never be competitive with options like charter schools and private-school vouchers, noting that ESAs have typically been designed to help make Catholic schools more affordable and that many states saying programs must hold accreditation to participate. He pointed out that many microschools closed in Washington, D.C., because parents couldn’t take advantage of the city鈥檚 longtime . It requires schools to file, among other things, two years of audited financial statements. 

鈥淏roadly speaking, the frameworks need to modernize,鈥� he said. The changes in Florida are 鈥渙ne important lever that lets us do that.鈥�

Hoffman, the Florida policy advisor, added that state regulations prevent 鈥渇ly-by-night鈥� operators who can 鈥渃ome in and come in on Tuesday and say, ‘I want to serve students,’ and by Wednesday you’re serving students.鈥�

On occasion, however, microschool parents have had bad experiences, as with a West Virginia operation that one parent called 鈥渁 glorified babysitter.鈥�

鈥楳ystical alignment of the universe鈥�

Not far from Fort Lauderdale, in Coral Springs, Fla., Frank Farro and his wife Natalie in 2020 were looking for a place to start their own microschool. Like the Slavens, they wanted to bring an Acton Academy network school to their neighborhood. And like the Slavens, they struggled to find a building. 鈥淟ocation has been the hardest thing for us,鈥� Frank Farro said. 鈥淣ot even close.鈥� 

The couple found a suitable space in a commercial building, but ended up getting kicked out when another school reclaimed it after the pandemic. Looser regulations would open more spaces for consideration, he said.

Like many others, the Farros鈥� school has grown quickly, from just six students in 2020 to 32 this fall. They鈥檙e currently renting about 5,000 square feet from a church, but Farro anticipates they鈥檒l reach capacity in about six months, with a planned enrollment of around 60 students.

鈥淭hen we’ll be looking for our forever campus,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd that’s when things will get even more interesting.鈥�

In 2020, he recalled, they looked at a five-acre tree farm in nearby Coconut Creek. It had a few houses that could serve as classrooms and seemed perfect. But at a selling price of $1.5 million, it didn鈥檛 seem practical for just six students.

Farro noticed recently that the property is back on the market this summer 鈥� for a cool $4 million.

Finding the right space, with playgrounds and outdoor spaces, he said, is 鈥渘ear impossible,鈥� but he hopes the new regulations open up other options. As it is, 鈥測ou have to find some mystical alignment of the universe in order to land a place that is zoned for a school 鈥� or you have to be massive, with a massive amount of capital, to go find another place.鈥�