Overview
Today, there are at least 125 private schools across Montana, serving over 11,000 students. Around 7% of all K-12 students in Montana are educated in private schools. From Catholic schools, to independent schools, to schools with special curricula, private schools offer students distinctive learning cultures.
Are you an education entrepreneur interested in starting a Private School in Montana? We’ve put together this ultimate guide to answer your questions.
Disclaimer: This page does not offer legal advice and should not be perceived as such. We have compiled the publicly-available resources below only as a starting point that may help you evaluate key considerations along your education journey. For legal questions, we recommend that you contact an attorney familiar with Montana law and other appropriate regulatory agencies.
Considerations for Education Entrepreneurs
As a Private School founder, it is crucial to understand what you’re offering families and familiarize yourself with your responsibilities as an education provider. Below we list some key considerations for prospective private school founders.
Who Can Start a Private School?
It might surprise you that anyone can open their doors and operate as a Private School, no prerequisite training or certification required! The State of Montana has no requirements for licensing, approval, or registration of private schools.
Business Structure
Some Private Schools are set up as a private for-profit corporation or limited liability company (LLC) while others opt for non-profit status. Either way, founders should anticipate creating a separate legal entity for their school.
Standards
Government-approved accreditation is optional for private schools in Montana. This means that Private Schools are generally free to adopt their own standards for staffing, admissions, learning environments, class sizes, curriculum, textbooks, testing, budgeting, more.
School facilities must still adhere to local regulations regarding safety, health, building codes etc.
Learning Environments
Private schools are free to offer more varied learning environments than traditional public schools. For instance, a private school may only admit a small number of students in order to provide more focused instruction. Private schools may also group students in classes by learning ability rather than chronological age like traditional public schools.
The largest private schools in Montana enroll hundreds of students, while the smallest private microschools may only enroll a handful. Some private schools operate in more traditional school facilities, while others embrace outdoor, hybrid, and other unconventional settings for instruction.
Instruction
Montana law requires nonpublic instruction to include at a minimum the core subjects taught in public schools, including:
- English language arts
- mathematics
- social studies
- science
- health
- arts
- career education
Beyond covering these core subjects in organized study, Private Schools are free to offer unique curriculum and classes that you won’t find in traditional public schools. For example, classical education models which emphasize the liberal arts and Greek/Roman academic traditions are soaring in popularity among private schools nationwide.
Religious/Non-Religious
Private Schools are free to offer religious-based instruction. 65% of private schools in Montana offer religious-based instruction (mostly Christian and Catholic).
Facilities
Finding a space for instruction is often the biggest consideration for school founders. Renting or purchasing a facility can be costly for a start-up. Thankfully, private schools have a lot of flexibility. They can be set up in a home, in a commercial building, outside – just about anywhere! Private schools can even share space with churches, which often rent their facilities at a low rate outside of church services.
There are also schools offering services to students worldwide through various online formats. GemPrep and OpenEd are good examples of how other entrepreneurs are organizing access to virtual learning.
Budgeting
Thanks to the flexibility of being outside of the public education system, private schools are often run very efficiently, with low overhead and admin costs compared to traditional public schools. The biggest budget items for private schools are typically paying instructional staff, followed by facilities.
To reduce costs, some small private microschools report recruiting volunteers to help facilitate educational programs, some even providing tuition discounts to parents who support the school’s programs through volunteer work. Others find free or low-rent facilities, such as sharing space with a church as we mentioned before.
Revenue
Most Private Schools rely on tuition to fund their operations. In Montana, the average annual private school tuition is $8,000 for elementary schools and $9,000 for high schools.
Private fundraising and grants are another substantial component of revenue at many Private Schools. There are many generous donors and grantmakers who love to support Private Schools. Check out this guide’s “Help Starting A Private School” section to learn more.
Student Financial Support
Most private schools provide need-based or academic scholarships to help families in their community afford their school. As we mentioned before, sometimes this can even take the form of discounts in exchange for parent volunteer work.
Many families also utilize outside scholarships or state-authorized Education Savings Accounts to help pay for tuition. Click the links below to learn more about offering scholarships or accepting ESA funds as an education provider below:
Help Starting A Private School
Our EdNavigate team is here to assist your journey as a Montana school founder. Below, we’ve curated below some helpful links and resources for Montana private schools. We also offer free one-on-one consultations with founders to talk through the key considerations of your school idea. Our well-networked team can also help make introductions and connections to others who can help.
Seed Funding and Grants
The Vela Education Fund
Description: The Vela Education Fund offers funding opportunities, resources, events, and a community of thousands of other education entrepreneurs.
Website
Inquiries: grants@vela.org
KaiPod Learning
Description: KaiPod Learning is a support network helping education entrepreneurs launch and operate personalized learning environments that reflect their vision and meet the needs of their community. They have compiled a comprehensive list of funding sources to help bring your vision into reality.
Website
Inquiries
Yass Prize
Description: The Yass Prize is a year-round initiative devoted to finding, rewarding, expanding, and accelerating transformational education providers. Each year, the organization begins their search for innovators who are doing extraordinary work for their students and families, announcing their finalists and awarding$1 million to the winner in December.
Website
Education, Guidance, and Business Planning
National Microschooling Center
Description: The National Microschooling Center is a resource hub and movement-builder committed to advancing the growth, health and evolution of the microschooling movement to live up to its fullest potential. The Center serves microschools, both current and potential, by offering a variety of services, consultations and training.
Website
Inquiries: Kathryn@microschoolingcenter.org
Arcadia Education
Description: Arcadia Education helps school leaders advance operational excellence so their schools, and the people within them, can flourish. They offer a wide range of solutions from market research to operational efficiency and start-up planning and management.
Website
Inquiries: info@arcadiaed.com
Bellwether
Description: Bellwether focuses on helping schools, organizations, public agencies, foundations and mission-driven nonprofits and companies to achieve their strategic, operational, and equity goals. They offer research and analysis, advising and planning as well as model policy solutions.
Website
Inquiries
Yes. Every Kid. Foundation.
Description: The Yes. Every Kid. Foundation legal team helps education entrepreneurs, such as those starting new learning environments or those managing existing environments, such as learning pods, microschools, hybrid schools, and homeschool co-ops. They provide support to help edupreneurs overcome regulatory hurdles and provide guidance on how to structure their business.
Website
Inquiries
KaiPod Learning
Description: KaiPod Learning is a support network helping education entrepreneurs launch and operate personalized learning environments that reflect their vision and meet the needs of their community. They offer free educational resources like their Microschool Vision Building Kit as well as a Finance and Fundraising Guide.
Website
Inquiries
Prenda
Description: Prenda is a Microschooling network you can partner with to empower the learners in your life by providing an effective microschool operating system, a learning model that puts the child at the center, and an inspiring and supportive community.
Website
Inquiries
More Resources
Educator Resources
Edupreneur Academy
The School Starter Checklist Information about Montana can be found on page 97
