Download the blank templates
Spreadsheet files (CSV) with the categories filled in and every amount left blank. Open them in Excel or Google Sheets and use your own quotes.
We don't publish "average startup cost" numbers. We couldn't find one on any primary source. Your costs depend on your building, your town and your size. Use real quotes.
What the research does say
- Startup money is the top barrier. The National Microschooling Center's 2025 sector analysis: "Startup funds represented the biggest barrier to opening for 32 percent of microschools, followed [by] facilities (26 percent)."
- Cost per child. Same report: "The median cost to educate one child is $6,500 in currently operating microschools. The average (mean) cost is $8,124."
- Size. Same report: "The median number of students served in nonpublic microschools is 22."
- Tuition. In that survey, 48% charge $5,000–$10,000, and 65% offer discounts or sliding-scale tuition.
- Arkansas EFA, 2026-27: $7,208 per student, paid to families in four quarterly deposits starting August 20, 2026 (ADE).
These are national survey figures from opt-in founders, not a benchmark for your school.
Two budgets, not one
- Startup (one-time) budget: everything you spend before the first tuition payment arrives.
- Operating budget: a normal year, month by month. Lenders want five years. The Lending Lab asks for the model in Excel (XLSX) so underwriters can see your formulas.
Then build a monthly cash-flow sheet for your first 12 months. In Arkansas, EFA money reaches families quarterly, and your school is paid when parents accept your ClassWallet requests. Most months in summer will show money going out and none coming in. That gap is the number you're funding with savings, deposits, a loan or donors.
Cost categories to price (startup)
- Legal and setup. Arkansas LLC $45 online, or a nonprofit corporation $45 online, plus IRS Form 1023 at $600 if you go nonprofit. An EIN is free. Add an attorney or CPA review.
- Facility: lease deposit, first month's rent, any build-out (lenders like The Lending Lab won't fund major improvements), fire and occupancy inspection, signs.
- Furniture and equipment: desks, chairs, shelves, whiteboards, devices, a printer.
- Curriculum and books, for each grade and subject.
- Insurance: general liability (lenders and churches often ask for $1M), property, and possibly abuse/molestation coverage. Get quotes.
- Safety: background checks and fingerprinting (required for EFA schools and providers), first-aid kits, fire extinguishers.
- Accreditation fees, if you're taking the EFA private-school track.
- Software: student information, billing, bookkeeping.
- Marketing: a website, open houses, printed materials.
- A cash reserve: at least one or two months of operating costs.
Cost categories to price (operating, per year)
- Staff wages, payroll taxes, contractor teachers
- Rent and utilities
- Curriculum renewals and consumable supplies
- Insurance premiums
- Testing (an ADE-approved norm-referenced test for EFA students)
- Software subscriptions and payment fees
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Loan payments (interest and principal)
- The Arkansas LLC franchise tax ($150 a year) or the nonprofit annual report (free)
Income lines
- Tuition × students (with your discount and scholarship rate)
- Fees (registration, supplies)
- EFA timing (a quarterly schedule, not monthly)
- Grants (only ones you've won, never ones you hope for)
- Donations (only if you're a 501(c)(3) or church, or you raise them honestly as an LLC; see Donations and crowdfunding for small schools: what's tax-deductible and how to raise money honestly)
Free tools
- SchoolStack Budget (from The Lending Lab), "FREE DURING BETA": its sample school is a demo, not a benchmark.
- ASBTDC: free, confidential budget help in seven Arkansas offices.