Microschool laws in Texas

A parent-responsibility-free model where your microschool assumes full legal responsibility for enrolled students. You register a business entity with the Texas Secretary of State, operate under the § 25.086(a)(1) private-school exemption, teach good citizenship as part of the curriculum, and families satisfy compulsory attendance by enrolling with you. Texas imposes no state-level registration, accreditation, teacher-certification, days/hours, or reporting requirement on private schools — but TEPSAC or TEA-recognized accreditation plus two years of continuous operation are required to participate in the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program.

A shared-resource model where families operate their own home schools (legally private schools under Leeper) and use your facility and programming as a cooperative. Because Texas has no home-instruction filing or reporting requirement, co-ops are operationally extremely simple — no NOI, no assessments, no portfolios. Your role is to provide space, curriculum support, and programming; each family retains legal responsibility for meeting the Leeper five-subjects / bona-fide-instruction standard. Co-ops typically operate 1-3 days per week.

Texas does not have a certified-tutor exemption. There is no statutory pathway analogous to Virginia's § 22.1-254(A) certified-tutor option — Texas relies on the private-school exemption (§ 25.086(a)(1)) and the Leeper home-school interpretation to cover parent-delivered and tutor-delivered instruction. A tutor operating a small-group practice would typically structure as either an Independent Private School (students enroll in the tutor's "school") or as a tutoring service supporting families who are home-schooling under the Leeper framework. No state tutor credential or approval exists.

A congregation-connected model operating as a parochial school under the § 25.086(a)(1) exemption. Same requirements as Independent Private School — Texas does not distinguish between secular and religious private schools and imposes no state oversight on curriculum. Faith integration is fully permitted. TEFA eligibility requires the same accreditation and two-year operational history as any other private school.

A pre-compulsory-age model for children under 6 (compulsory attendance in Texas begins at age 6 per § 25.085). Licensing is handled by HHSC Child Care Regulation under Texas Administrative Code Title 26 Chapter 746 (centers) and Chapter 747 (child-care homes). Licensing triggers depend on facility type, number of unrelated children, and hours. Kindergarten-age children (age 5) are not yet subject to compulsory attendance unless previously enrolled in first grade.

A part-time program where children attend 2-3 days per week at your facility and complete instruction at home the remaining days under the Leeper home-school-as-private-school framework. Because Texas has no home-instruction filing requirement, hybrid programs are operationally straightforward — no NOI to file, no assessment to coordinate. Families can also elect to enroll in your program as their primary private school (Independent Private School model) if you are issuing transcripts and taking academic responsibility.

A satellite model operating under an established Texas private school's accreditation. Because Texas imposes no state registration on private schools, there is no statutory framework for "umbrella schools" specifically — but nothing prevents an accredited school from operating satellite campuses under its governance. Useful primarily for TEFA eligibility: a satellite operating under an umbrella school that has two-plus years of continuous operation and TEPSAC/TEA-recognized accreditation may be able to inherit that status, though this is accreditor-specific and not guaranteed.