How to Start a Microschool in North Dakota

North Dakota is one of the hardest states in which to open a microschool — and one of the most important places to have one. The state has no charter schools, no Education Savings Account program, and very limited private school choice. When House Bill 1472, which would have created a formal legal category for microschools serving up to 50 students, was voted down in February 2025 by a margin of 41 to 49, it left families and educators evaluating the existing home education statute and the nonpublic-school requirements that may apply.

That path can work when structured correctly. But it requires you to understand the rules with precision, because the line between a home-education cooperative and an unapproved nonpublic school turns on the total instructional program, including the majority-instruction boundary.

What the Law Actually Allows

Under North Dakota Century Code §15.1-23-01, "home education" is defined as a program of education supervised by a child's parent. That definition does not preclude group arrangements, hired tutors, or shared facilities — but it does anchor legal responsibility firmly with the parent. If an entity provides the majority of a child's instruction, the arrangement may cross into private-school territory under NDCC 15.1-06, which brings requirements including licensed teachers, facility health/fire/safety compliance, and Superintendent of Public Instruction approval.

Because HB 1472 failed, there is no legal entity officially recognized as a "microschool" in North Dakota. A group of families operating as a microschool must structure itself as an aggregate of individually compliant home education programs — each family filing their own Statement of Intent (SFN 16909) with their local school district superintendent.

The practical effect: families can pool resources and hire a facilitator, but a four- or five-day arrangement needs careful documentation of parent supervision. If the facilitator provides the majority of a child's instruction, nonpublic-school requirements may apply; a label in a legal document does not change that analysis.

The Six Operational Phases

Phase 1: Find your core families. Microschools in North Dakota do not need scale — they need alignment. A pod of 4 to 8 families is the sweet spot. The North Dakota Home School Association (NDHSA) maintains Facebook groups and regional chapter coordinators in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot. Church bulletins, Classical Conversations communities, and local Facebook groups are the primary recruitment channels. Before you post broadly, define your pedagogical identity: classical, project-based, STEM-focused, or faith-integrated. Misaligned families fracture pods faster than anything else.

Phase 2: File individually. Every family must file SFN 16909 with their local district superintendent — not a shared filing. The form requires proof of the child's identity, an immunization record or approved exemption, and the parent's educational qualifications (at minimum, a high school diploma or GED). Filing must happen at least five days before instruction begins, or within 14 days of moving into a new district, and annually by September 10th thereafter.

Phase 3: Secure a space. Home-based pods are often simplest operationally but scale poorly beyond three families. In Fargo, check the current home-occupation and zoning requirements; if the property is leased, obtain landlord approval. Church basements and fellowship halls are a practical option across the state — they may already have fire and safety infrastructure, parking, and below-market rental arrangements, but confirm the venue's current requirements. Rural pods have used retrofitted agricultural buildings, but those require careful attention to heating and basic safety standards before children enter.

Phase 4: Structure the facilitator relationship correctly. This is where most pods make expensive mistakes. If your group dictates the facilitator's exact hours, controls the curriculum, and directs the instructional method day-to-day, the IRS may classify that person as a W-2 employee rather than an independent contractor. W-2 status means payroll withholding, unemployment tax liability, and workers' compensation insurance. If payments to an independent contractor exceed $600 annually, the paying entity must issue a Form 1099-NEC. The contract must clearly establish that the facilitator controls how instruction is delivered, while parents retain authority over the educational program's goals and philosophy.

Phase 5: Choose your curriculum. North Dakota requires home education to cover reading, language, mathematics, science, social studies, health, and physical education. High school requirements expand significantly to include Algebra II, biology, physical science, U.S. and World History, a foreign or Native American language, and career and technical education (CTE). North Dakota studies — state geography, history, and agriculture — are required in grades 4 and 8. Multi-age curriculum platforms (Khan Academy, Oak Meadow, Blossom and Root) work well for small pods spanning several grade levels because a single facilitator can manage differentiated instruction without parallel-planning separate grade-level lessons.

Phase 6: Buy the right insurance. Standard homeowners' policies often exclude liabilities from "business pursuits." A pod host should not assume an injury claim will be covered; confirm the policy position with the insurer. Specialized policies for homeschool cooperatives — available from companies like NCG Insurance, Special Markets Insurance Consultants, and Bitner Henry Insurance — can include commercial general liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence is a typical baseline), abuse and molestation coverage, and professional/educator liability. Use approximately $500 as a sample budget for a small policy, but confirm current quotes for a 6-10 student pod.

The Certified Teacher Advantage

Hiring a state-licensed educator — licensed by the North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board (ESPB) — unlocks three major operational benefits.

First, standardized testing relief. North Dakota mandates standardized achievement tests in grades 4, 6, 8, and 10. By default, students take the test used by their local district at no cost. But if families want to avoid placing pod students in a public school testing environment, they can substitute a nationally normed test (Iowa Assessments, Stanford 10) — which must be administered by a certified teacher. One licensed educator administering the test to the entire pod simultaneously eliminates duplicate logistics for every family.

Second, testing exemption pathway. A parent who holds a baccalaureate degree, is a licensed teacher, or files a philosophical, moral, or religious objection can opt out of state-mandated testing entirely. Pods with multiple college-educated parents often find that most families can claim the baccalaureate exemption outright.

Third, performance threshold management. If a student scores below the 50th percentile nationally, their program must be monitored by a licensed teacher. Below the 30th percentile triggers a multidisciplinary assessment and, if no disability is identified, a formal remediation plan in consultation with a licensed teacher. Having a licensed educator already embedded in the pod can help satisfy these requirements if they are triggered, but does not eliminate them automatically.

Budget Reality

North Dakota's cost of living makes microschools financially viable even without ESA funding. For a 10-student pod operating 30 hours per week for 36 weeks, paying a facilitator $22 per hour (the Bismarck average runs $24/hour; Fargo averages $18.62/hour; Williston commands a premium due to oil-sector wage inflation), the base facilitator cost is approximately $23,760 per year. Add specialized insurance ($500), curriculum stipends ($1,500), and a modest facility contribution to a host church ($2,000), and total annual operating cost is roughly $27,760 — or $2,776 per student. That compares favorably to private school tuition in the state, which typically exceeds $8,000 annually.

Pods that integrate dual enrollment through the North Dakota University System (NDUS) can reduce facilitator burden further. High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors are eligible to take college courses that simultaneously satisfy high school graduation requirements and earn collegiate credit at reduced tuition rates. This effectively outsources advanced coursework — Calculus, Chemistry, specialized electives — to state institutions like NDSU or Lake Region State College.

The Hybrid Model and Legal Safety

The hybrid schedule is often easier to document: students attend the pod facility two or three days per week for facilitator-led instruction, and complete parent-supervised work at home the remaining days. The facilitator must remain below the "majority" of each child's total instructional program; count instructional hours and responsibilities, not just days. A hybrid schedule is not an automatic safe harbor.

Full-time pods (four or five days per week) require more careful documentation: written parent educational philosophy statements, visible parent involvement in curriculum selection, and records showing parents review and direct each child's progress rather than simply receiving reports from a facilitator. If the facilitator provides the majority of a child's instruction, nonpublic-school requirements may apply despite that documentation.

The North Dakota Micro-School & Pod Kit includes the specific contract language, Statement of Intent filing templates, testing exemption forms, and parent agreement structures to help document a full-time pod's home-education arrangement under NDCC §15.1-23.

What Comes After Launch

Once running, the most common operational challenge is not legal compliance — it's interpersonal conflict. Disagreements over discipline, curriculum pace, and tuition payment are inevitable when parents are emotionally and financially invested. A Parent Handbook with defined behavior expectations, sick policies, late-payment penalties, and a structured conflict resolution process (a rotating board of three parent representatives handles disputes before they escalate) is as important as any legal document.

Marketing relies almost entirely on word-of-mouth within church communities, the NDHSA regional networks, and closed Facebook groups. North Dakota's small population makes broad digital advertising inefficient. A clear articulation of your pod's identity — pedagogical approach, daily schedule, maximum enrollment, and tuition structure — shared through trusted networks produces more aligned families than any paid ad.

The absence of charter schools and ESA funding is genuinely frustrating for North Dakota families. But it also means the microschool landscape is less saturated than in Arizona or Texas, and the families willing to navigate the legal complexity tend to be exactly the committed, aligned partners that make pods sustainable for years.

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