State guide
The legal pathways, operator types, funding programs and licensing agencies Arizona recognizes, with links to the state code and agency pages that set the rules.
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Answer below. You get a ranked list of the operator models that fit here, what each would mean for you, and what would change the answer. A ranking of fits, not a licensing determination.
Compulsory attendance
How a family satisfies compulsory attendance outside public school. Your operator type maps to one of these, and the statute linked on each card is what defines it.
A child satisfies compulsory attendance by attending a regularly organized private school that provides instruction in at least reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:azleg.gov ↗ed.gov ↗schoolsup.org ↗
A child satisfies compulsory attendance by being taught at home by the parent in at least reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:azleg.gov ↗coconino.az.gov ↗
A child satisfies compulsory attendance by signing a contract to participate in the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. The ESA contract is a distinct compulsory-attendance pathway recognized in § 15-802(B), separate from private school or home education. Families on the ESA track spend state-funded scholarship dollars on approved educational expenses — tuition at qualified schools, tutoring, curriculum, therapies, online programs, technology, transportation, and more — and the contract itself is the legal mechanism satisfying compulsory attendance.
Read the source:azleg.gov ↗azleg.gov ↗azed.gov ↗azed.gov ↗
For founders
What each type is, and who to talk to. The requirements to hold each designation are set by the statute and agency pages linked on the card; read them before you choose.
A parent-responsibility-free model where your microschool operates as a § 15-802 private school teaching the five required subjects.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
A shared-resource model where families use the A.R.S. § 15-802(B)(2) home instruction pathway (parent files affidavit of intent with county superintendent) and come together at your facility for programming, curriculum support, and social learning.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
The five recognized pathways in § 15-802(B) are: public school, charter school, private school, home instruction (by parent), and ESA contract. A tutor operating a small-group practice would typically structure as either a private school (teaching the five subjects under § 15-802) or as an ESA-approved service provider where individual families use ESA funds to pay for tutoring.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:azleg.gov ↗
A congregation-connected model operating as a private school under § 15-802. Faith integration is fully permitted. Arizona's STO program operates independently of ESA — some families use both, some use only one.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Get your obligation in writing from AZDHS before opening.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Child Care LicensingWho licenses this type
Arizona offers three structural paths: (a) families use the § 15-802(B)(2) home instruction pathway (affidavit of intent) and your program is a co-op; (b) families enroll in your program as a private school (you become the educational authority); (c) families use ESA contracts and your program is an ESA-approved vendor.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
A satellite model operating under an established Arizona private school's governance. The main structural question is ESA qualified-school status: the umbrella school can list the satellite as an operating location, though ADE may require the satellite's location, personnel, and fingerprint records to be separately documented.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Check before you open
In Arizona, childcare licensing is administered by Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Child Care Licensing. The governing rules are cited as A.R.S. Title 36, Chapter 7.1 (Child Care Facilities); Arizona Administrative Code Title 9, Chapter 5.
Agency and rules:azdhs.gov ↗azdhs.gov ↗publichealthlawcenter.org ↗
Common triggers. Not a complete list:
Childcare rules can reach school-age children as well as preschoolers, and a microschool that fits a pathway above can still fall under them. Only the agency can tell you whether your program needs a license. Ask them before you open, and confirm with your attorney.
For families
Grants and loans that aren't tied to one state, each linked to the funder's own page.
The state programs that can pay toward tuition or expenses at a program like yours. Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often, so plan from the program pages, not from this summary.
All K-12 Arizona residents qualify regardless of income; preschool children qualify if they have a Multidisciplinary Education Team (MET) report, IEP, or 504 plan. Administered by the Arizona Department of Education ESA Unit. Funds flow to ClassWallet and are spent on approved educational expenses: tuition at qualified schools, tutoring, curriculum, therapies, online programs, technology, transportation, testing, and postsecondary courses.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:azed.gov ↗azleg.gov ↗azleg.gov ↗azed.gov ↗azed.gov ↗edchoice.org ↗azed.gov ↗app.smartsheet.com ↗
Individual Arizona taxpayers receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit for contributions to certified School Tuition Organizations (STOs), which then provide scholarships to Arizona students for tuition at private K-12 schools.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:azdor.gov ↗edchoice.org ↗
Supplementary individual tax credit available to taxpayers who first max out the Original credit.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:azdor.gov ↗acsto.org ↗
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:azdor.gov ↗edchoice.org ↗
Corporate tax credit for STO contributions providing scholarships to students with disabilities and students displaced from foster care.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:azdor.gov ↗
Hobbs cited accountability/transparency concerns about Arizona's existing ESA program.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:edchoice.org ↗
Calendar
We don't publish filing windows or due dates. A wrong date can cost a school year. These pages set them; check them directly, and again before you file.
A.R.S. § 15-802Legislation
Bills the Arizona legislature passed that touch microschools, learning pods or education savings accounts, each read before it is listed. The sections above describe the law as we last verified it; a law listed here may change them.
Our search found no enacted bills on microschools, learning pods or education savings accounts in Arizona. A search can miss things, so this is not a statement that nothing changed.
Bill data from LegiScan LLC, CC BY 4.0. Updated Sep 26, 2026. Every law listed was read before it was listed. Read the act on the legislature's site before you rely on it.
Verification
Every source this page draws on, split by who published it. Check which group a link is in, and who published it, before you rely on it.
Government-published — which is not the same as state-published. Most are this state's own code, regulations, agency and legislature pages. Others are federal, and some of those only SUMMARISE this state's rules rather than setting them; a few are city or county government. A summary of the law is not the law, and neither a federal nor a local page is a source of state obligation — so check who published any you rely on.
News coverage, program directories, advocacy and association publications. Useful context, and listed so you can see what this page drew on — but they are not the law and they are not the state speaking. This list is not mapped claim by claim, so if a specific fact matters to a decision, confirm it against a government source rather than assuming it came from one.