ESA or Direct Pay Fees and Compensation‍

Families pay a flat rate per student, per year. This rate is comprised of two parts.

1. The Prenda Fee
2. The Guide Fee

The Prenda fee for the 2023-2024 school year is $2,199.

The guide fee is set by you as the guide and will vary from microschool to microschool.

Example scenario: you choose to fund your microschool using the ESA or Direct Pay approach. You decide to set your guide fee at $3,500 per student and you have 10 students. Families would be charged a total of $5,699 ($2,199 + $3,500) per student per year and you would earn $35,000 for running your microschool approximately 20 hours per week.

In some cases, Prenda will handle all invoicing for you while in other situations Prenda will invoice families for the Prenda fee only and you will need to collect payment for your guide fee independently.

Public Partnership Fees and Compensation

Families pay no fees.

If you choose to fund your microschool through one of our public partnerships, compensation rates and contract details will vary. Interested guides should contact the respective partner to inquire about compensation.

Contact us at community@prenda.com with any funding questions!

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Direct Pay means that parents pay for their child to utilize Prenda's learning model and attend your microschool out of pocket. Prenda will invoice parents for the $2,199 Prenda fee plus whatever you decide to charge. You'll set your guide fee as you set up your microschool profile. Click Start My Microschool to create your account and get started! 

A state scholarship is a new kind of public funding for education that allows families to access a portion of the state funds that would have otherwise been spent on their child if they were enrolled in the public school system. Each state has a unique name for this process but the most common term is an "Empowerment Scholarship Account" or "ESA." Availability and details of these programs vary by state. If available in your state, this funding is typically enough to allow families to participate in a Prenda microschool without any out-of-pocket payment.

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In some states, Prenda has partnered with charter schools or other educational institutions that allow families to participate in the Prenda program tuition free. In this case, families pay nothing and guides are compensated by Prenda or by the partner. Details vary by state and partnership.

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The Prenda learning experience was designed around a 16-hour week for K-2nd grade students (4, 4-hour days) and a 20-hour week for 3-8th grade students (4, 5-hour days). However, you can choose to adjust this schedule to meet the needs of your community. You may also choose to guide more than one microschool. You'll set your calendar for the year as you set up your microschool. Click Start My Microschol to create an account and get started.

In order to launch your microschool, you’ll need

1. a comfortable, safe learning space for students with access to the internet. 
2. a minimum of two students from two different families. 
3. background checks for yourself and for any other adult that will be at your location. 

After you click Start My Microschool, you'll be able to initiate your background check (Prenda facilitates and pays for this) and access branded marketing tools that can help you spread the word about your microschool and invite students to enroll with you.

Public Partnership funded guides should contact the respective partner to inquire about additional requirements and safety protocols.

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No. There is no educational requirement to guide a microschool. Interestingly, about half of all guides are certified teachers and the other half are passionate parents or community members that want to make a difference for the students in their lives. We’ve seen successful microschools run by homeschool parents, business leaders, soccer coaches, grandparents, and church leaders. “Guiding” is different than “teaching.” Our learning experience does not depend on the guide to provide instruction as a teacher would in a classroom setting. Instead, your job is to help students set goals, monitor their progress, and support them as they learn how to learn. Academic coaches and math tutoring is available to provide expert support to students when needed.

Yes! We call this a "Single-Family Microschool" but we consider you just as much a guide as if you were guiding a Multi-Family Microschool. You still have access to all the tools and support a Multi-Family Microschool gets except you aren’t compensated for educating your own children unless you expand to serving students beyond your family.

In our experience, 5-10 learners in a microschool is ideal, however, we only require that you have 2 students (from two different families) to get started. You may choose to exceed 10 students but we have found that when groups get too big the magic of the small group is lost and guiding becomes stressful. Most parents are looking for a small-group experience so if you accept more students, your microschool may become less attractive.

Prenda does not assign students to microschools. It is up to you as the guide to recruit students and families for your microschool. We provide helpful resources like Facebook pages where guides and families can connect, the microschool map, and the facilitation of your microschool profile page to help you spread the word about your school. We also provide sharable resources that you can use to help your community understand what a microschool is and why they might be interested in attending with you. You only need two students from two different families to get started.

Prenda does not provide locations for microschools. It is up to you as the guide to find and secure a suitable location for your microschool. Most guides operate out of their home but many use more formal locations like churches, commercial spaces, or community centers. Some guides share a larger location and host several microschools together. If finding a location sounds hard, reach out to us and we can help you think through your options and connect you with a guide coach that can support you.

The ultimate responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of students rests with the guide and the families who choose to enroll in the microschool. Prenda does not guarantee the safety and security of students in the microschool, and it is important for parents to conduct due diligence and make sure the guide and microschool environment is a good fit for their child.

Prenda requires a background check for every guide and adult that will be at the location during school hours. Guides should ensure that students are always safe while at their microschool. This includes controlling access to things like drugs, medicine, chemicals, alcohol, or weapons, and any bodies of water as well as ensuring that your students are safe on the internet.

Depending on how your contract is set up, a site safety inspection may be required.

As a guide, you have a few options for how you want to set up your contract and compensation. Your options depend on what state you are in. This choice will affect what students you serve, the educational requirements that may affect your students, and how your contract is set up. To find out what options are available in your state

More information can be found in the above State-Specific downloadable PDF.

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Prenda microschools are run out of a variety of locations - homes, churches, dance studios, and other rented spaces. Within the guide community, there are hundreds of experienced guides who can share their experience in finding a location.

Device provisioning is determined by your student’s enrollment details. Students utilizing a direct-pay or ESA program will need to provide their own devices. Prenda provides device recommendations and will occasionally run device provisioning promotions.

Some of our partners provide devices, others do not. 

Every Prenda student will be assigned a Prenda email address which will give them access to their learning tools, Google Suite, and single-sign-on privileges.

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