Starting a private school is a long-term process that generally takes no less than 2 years. Private schools offer high-quality education and are not managed by the state. By starting a private school, you’ll be providing a valuable service to families with children in your community. Begin by tackling the big-picture planning questions that surround creating a school, and then move into hiring faculty and staff and recruiting students.
Part One of Four:
Choosing a School Structure: Decide if the school will be for-profit or non-profit. Make this decision before deciding on any other academic aspects of your school. Non-profit schools will be managed by a board of directors. For-profit schools, on the other hand, will be overseen by a proprietor (potentially yourself) or by a business partnership or LLC. One structure is not better than the other. It’s simply up to you to decide how you want to manage and finance your school.[1]
If you opt to run a non-profit private school, follow up by applying for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status with the IRS.
Assemble a private school committee if your school is non-profit. This committee will work together to make crucial decisions about the school’s future, select a campus location, and hire faculty. The members will eventually become the core members of your board of directors. Committee members should be experts in different areas, including education, legal, accounting, business and construction.[2]
If you aren’t sure who to ask to become a committee member, reach out to other private schools in your area. Talk to their administration members, and find out who those schools used as committee members.
Decide if you’d like to manage a day school or a boarding school. Day schools function like typical public schools and send students home at the end of a 6- or 7-hour day. Boarding schools house students overnight. Boarding-school students typically stay at the school for an entire semester. Boarding schools take more financial input and more work, but the students tend to become deeply involved in their communities and to form close professional bonds with their teachers.[3]
As another option, consider a Montessori school. Montessori schools are almost always private and offer children a discovery-based model of academic experimentation and learning.
Determine the grade levels for your private school. If you’re inexperienced or want to start small, open a private grade school that offers grades K-5. A small school will be easier to run, require a smaller campus, and have lower enrollment.[4] Or, if you’d like to start a larger school, opt to offer grades K-12.
Many private schools start with fewer and lower grade levels and add upper grades over time. For instance, you could begin by offering K-5. Then, after 3 or 4 years, you can add grades 6-8.
Find a building to house your private school. Plan to rent or lease a building in your community large enough—and in good enough repair—to house students.[5]Look around within residential or semi-residential areas within the community where you’d like to have your school. If no vacant school buildings currently exist, talk to city developer or commercial real-estate agents who may know of a viable school building.
