Indiana Microschool Contract Template, Enrollment Form, and Parent Constitution

The paperwork for an Indiana microschool is not a formality. It is the layer of protection between a smooth-running pod and a dispute that unravels everything you have built. Most founders delay this part because writing legal documents feels intimidating — and then they spend ten times longer managing conflicts that proper documentation would have prevented.

Here is a practical breakdown of the three core documents every Indiana microschool or pod school needs: the parent participation agreement (the "contract"), the student enrollment form, and the parent constitution (the governance document for multi-family pods).

The Parent Participation Agreement: What It Must Cover

The parent participation agreement is the primary contract between your microschool and each enrolling family. In Indiana, non-accredited non-public schools operate with significant legal flexibility — but that flexibility cuts both ways. There is no state framework governing what happens when a family withdraws mid-year, refuses to pay tuition, or disagrees with how you handled a behavioral issue. The parent agreement is the document that answers all of those questions in advance.

Tuition and payment terms. Specify the full academic year tuition, payment schedule (monthly, quarterly, or annual), acceptable payment methods, and the late payment policy. Indiana pod founders who have faced mid-year departures uniformly recommend requiring payment 30 days in advance (i.e., families pay April tuition in March), which provides a buffer if a family gives notice to leave. Specify whether you accept INESA Education Savings Account disbursements — and if so, how the timing of state payments affects your schedule.

Enrollment period and withdrawal terms. Define the enrollment commitment period (typically one academic year, September through May). Specify the notice period required for withdrawal (30 or 60 days is standard) and whether tuition is refundable if the family leaves mid-year. Indiana has no consumer protection law that mandates a refund for private educational services — your contract terms govern. Be explicit and reasonable; harsh no-refund terms that families find punitive tend to generate disputes and reputational damage even when they are technically enforceable.

Attendance expectations. Indiana non-accredited non-public schools must provide 180 instructional days. Your attendance policy determines how absences are handled and when a student's attendance record falls below the threshold you consider satisfactory. Specify what happens if a student misses more than a defined number of days — does the family forfeit their spot? Does tuition credit apply?

Health and emergency contact information. Required for basic operational safety. Specify medication administration policy (most Indiana pod founders do not administer medications and should say so explicitly), emergency contact hierarchy, and the protocol for medical emergencies.

Photo and media release. Whether you photograph students for internal documentation, social media, or a graduation portfolio matters. Get explicit written consent — or explicit written refusal — from each family. Absence of a policy creates ambiguity that parents will exploit when they become dissatisfied for other reasons.

Code of conduct and disciplinary procedure. Describe your behavioral expectations and what happens if a student or family fails to meet them. Include the escalation procedure (verbal warning, written warning, enrollment termination) and make clear that you retain the right to dis-enroll a student for serious or repeated violations. Indiana law does not require a formal disciplinary process for private educational operations — your agreement is the governing document.

Liability waiver. A general liability waiver does not eliminate your legal exposure for negligence, but it signals to enrolling families that they understand the setting and its risks, and it reduces friction in disputes over minor incidents. The waiver should state that parents understand the microschool is a non-accredited private educational program and not a licensed childcare center. Standard language should be reviewed by an attorney if your enrollment will exceed 10 families or your state of incorporation creates specific concerns.

Governing law. State that Indiana law governs the agreement and specify the county for dispute resolution. For most Indiana pod founders, this is the county where the pod operates.

The Student Enrollment Form: Operational Basics

The enrollment form is distinct from the parent participation agreement — it collects the student-specific information you need to operate. A proper enrollment form includes:

Student identifying information: full legal name, date of birth, previous school attended (and most recent grade level), current grade level at enrollment.

Withdrawal documentation. For students withdrawing from Indiana public schools at the high school level, Indiana requires completion of the "Withdrawal to Non-Accredited Non-public School Located in Indiana" form with the public school district. Your enrollment form should note whether the family has completed this process and whether the student is transferring from another non-accredited non-public school or directly from a public school.

Medical and health information: allergies (food, medication, environmental), existing medical conditions that may affect learning or emergency response, current medications and whether school administration is required, physician contact information.

Special learning needs. Ask whether the student has a current IEP, 504 plan, or diagnosed learning difference — and what accommodations have been effective. Indiana's INESA program provides Education Savings Account funds of up to $20,000 for students with qualifying disabilities; documenting this at enrollment helps you advise families on funding they may not know they are eligible for.

Emergency contacts: minimum two contacts with phone numbers and relationship to student, and explicit authorization of who may pick up the student.

Curriculum acknowledgment. Note the primary curriculum or curricula you plan to use and have the family acknowledge that they understand the instructional approach. This is particularly important if you use a secular curriculum in a market where faith-based options are the norm, or vice versa.

Acknowledgment signature block. The enrollment form should be signed separately from the parent participation agreement, confirming that the student information provided is accurate and complete. Keep a signed copy in the student's file.

The Pod School Parent Constitution: Governance for Multi-Family Operations

The parent constitution — sometimes called a parent handbook's governance addendum, a co-op constitution, or a pod governance agreement — is the document that defines how the pod makes collective decisions. It is most important for multi-family pods where parents share responsibility for teaching, scheduling, purchasing, or administrative duties.

Indiana does not require a formal governance document for private educational operations, but the Indiana Microschool Network's 130+ member schools demonstrate that operational conflicts between founding families are among the most common reasons early pods dissolve. The parent constitution prevents the most common disputes by answering questions before they become arguments.

What the parent constitution covers:

Decision-making authority. Who makes final decisions about curriculum changes, new family enrollment, schedule modifications, and facility changes? Is this the lead educator exclusively, a majority vote of all families, or a board of parent representatives? Define the process clearly. Pods that treat every decision as a group vote often find the process paralyzed; pods where the lead educator has unilateral authority can feel authoritarian to contributing families. Most successful Indiana pods operate with a clear lead educator who retains academic authority and a parent advisory group that votes on operational decisions above a defined cost or impact threshold.

Tuition and cost-sharing. If parents share teaching responsibilities (a rotating co-op model), how are tuition offsets calculated? If the pod purchases shared curriculum, how are costs split? Who is the financial signatory on the bank account? The constitution should answer all of these.

New family admission. How does the pod decide to enroll a new family — especially important once you have a stable, functional group that works well together. Define whether new enrollment requires unanimous consent, majority approval, or lead educator discretion. A waiting list process, if you need one, should be described.

Member responsibilities. If parents rotate teaching or volunteer duties, specify the minimum commitment expected (e.g., teach one subject block per week, contribute one field trip coordination per semester). What happens if a parent consistently fails to meet their contribution commitment?

Dispute resolution. When a conflict arises between a family and the pod leadership — over a disciplinary decision, a curriculum choice, or a financial dispute — what is the process? Most Indiana pods use a simple two-step: direct conversation between the parties, then mediation by an agreed-upon third party (often a regional coordinator from the Indiana Microschool Network or a community elder known to both parties). Specifying this in advance reduces the chance that a routine disagreement escalates into a threat of legal action.

Amendment process. How can the constitution be changed? Typically a 60-day notice and a supermajority (two-thirds) vote of enrolled families works well.

Exit provisions. What happens when a founding family leaves? Can they take any shared resources they contributed? Does their departure trigger any financial settlement? The exit terms matter most when the departing family helped fund the space or equipment.

Putting It Together Before Enrollment Opens

The practical sequence:

1. Draft your parent participation agreement and have at least one Indiana attorney familiar with private education or small business contracts review it before you use it. A one-hour legal review ($150 to $300) is far less expensive than one unresolved tuition dispute.
2. Create your student enrollment form from the categories above, customized to your pod's specific model and curriculum.
3. If you are running a multi-family co-responsibility model (parents rotate teaching, parents share governance), draft the parent constitution before your first family meeting. Present it as a collaborative document and invite input — families are more committed to agreements they helped shape.
4. Store signed copies of all documents in a dedicated folder — paper and digital. Indiana's attendance record requirement (records must be available upon request by the Secretary of Education or local school superintendent) extends by implication to enrollment documentation if your records are ever examined.

The Indiana Micro-School & Pod Kit includes template versions of all three documents — the parent participation agreement, the student enrollment form, and the parent constitution — pre-configured for Indiana's legal framework and ready to adapt to your specific pod model.

See more United States homeschool guides →