State guide
The legal pathways, operator types, funding programs and licensing agencies Washington 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.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗app.leg.wa.gov ↗sbe.wa.gov ↗sbe.wa.gov ↗ed.gov ↗
A parent may provide home-based instruction to satisfy compulsory attendance.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗app.leg.wa.gov ↗ospi.k12.wa.us ↗ospi.k12.wa.us ↗
One of the four durable enrollment routes under RCW 28A.225.010(1): a child enrolled in an APPROVED private school's extension program satisfies compulsory attendance under RCW 28A.225.010(1)(a). The practical middle path between full private-school enrollment and family-filed home-based instruction.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗app.leg.wa.gov ↗
The fourth durable enrollment route: attendance at a certified EDUCATION CENTER satisfies compulsory attendance under RCW 28A.225.010(1)(c). Rarely the right structure for a microschool serving enrolled families, but it is a distinct route the statute names, and it is listed here so the family-side inventory of enrollment routes is complete. The remaining statutory alternative, (1)(d) temporary superintendent-excused absence, is an excusal rather than an enrollment model.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗app.leg.wa.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 SBE-approved private school model under RCW 28A.195. The school assumes full legal responsibility for enrolled students and must meet all eight statutory minimum requirements (RCW 28A.195.010; grouped in summaries here into six topics), including teacher certification (WA certificate or alternative approved credential).
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
A shared-resource model where families operate under RCW 28A.200 home-based instruction. Each family files an annual Declaration of Intent, meets parent qualification requirements, teaches the 11 required subjects for the required hours, and completes annual assessment. Washington's home-based instruction statute allows the parent to be "supervised by a certificated person" — a cooperative staffed by a Washington-certificated teacher can serve as that supervisor, enabling parents who lack the 45-credit or home-instruction course qualification to participate.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Structure as Independent Private School (if full-time) or as a certificated-supervisor role within a Homeschool Cooperative.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗
A faith-integrated private school under RCW 28A.195.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Licensing DivisionWho licenses this type
Families remain the legally responsible educators; parent qualification, subject coverage, hours, and annual assessment all remain family-level responsibilities. THE ALTERNATIVE SHAPE: if you become an approved private school yourself, RCW 28A.195.010(4) lets the same families ENROLL in your extension programme instead of filing their own Declarations of Intent -- same thirty-per-supervisor cap, but the compliance burden moves from each family to you.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
If you want to run this, become the approved private school (see Independent Private School, where the extension programme is a real capability); if you partner with one, you are its contractor and it is the operator of record. A school can open multiple campuses, but each campus generally requires its own SBE approval record, local zoning, and inspection.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗
Check before you open
In Washington, childcare licensing is administered by Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Licensing Division. The governing rules are cited as WAC 110-300 (Foundational Quality Standards for Early Learning Programs); RCW 43.216.
Agency and rules:dcyf.wa.gov ↗apps.leg.wa.gov ↗dcyf.wa.gov ↗
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.
This page lists no state-run scholarship, voucher or education savings account program for Washington. Check the state education agency for anything new.
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.
RCW 28A.200.010(1)(a); RCW 28A.225.010(4)WAC 180-90-130; RCW 28A.195.010Beyond childcare
Situations that can bring a program under a state approval or licensing rule. Approval rules and forms change; confirm with the agency on the linked page.
RCW 28A.155.090; WAC 392-172A-04080 through WAC 392-172A-04110 (Nonpublic Agencies)
A "Nonpublic Agency" that provides special education and related services to students referred by public school districts must be approved by OSPI. Approval includes program review, teacher and related-service-provider certification verification, fiscal review, and ongoing compliance.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:app.leg.wa.gov ↗apps.leg.wa.gov ↗
Legislation
Bills the Washington 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 Washington. 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.