Private schools have been around for a while, but not like this.
By Kerry McDonald, FEE
Many traditional, long-established private schools remain financially out of reach for most American families. For example, the Boston Globe recently reported that “most top private schools in Massachusetts cost between $40,000 and $70,000 a year,” with some even higher than that. Now, a fresh batch of private schools and related learning models is quickly emerging across the US. These newcomers diverge from incumbents in several significant ways—including cost. Here are four reasons why today’s creative schooling options are quietly upending K-12 education:
1) They Are Affordable
Emerging schools and learning spaces are very often a fraction of the cost of typical private schools. I spent this past weekend in South Florida attending the International School Choice and Reform Conference and observed first-hand how new private schools set themselves apart financially from their decades-old, traditional counterparts. For example, some of the top private schools in South Florida list their annual tuition at over $45,000, but at Fort Lauderdale’s Colossal Academy, tuition hovers just above $15,000 a year for its five-day-a-week program, and $12,500 for a three-day hybrid option. Founded in 2021 by Shiren Rattigan, Colossal Academy is a state-recognized, secular private school currently serving about 30 students in grades six through ten. Rattigan says that frugality and a commitment to lean operations help to keep tuition costs low. “By maintaining small learning environments, we are able to be better stewards of our revenue. The budget is easily managed and everything is accounted for,” said Rattigan.
A math teacher who taught in both public and private schools for over 10 years, Rattigan prioritizes personalized, hands-on learning with a focus on entrepreneurship. “We are reimagining workforce development and gearing our students to be conscious entrepreneurs. We believe entrepreneurship is the fastest way to prosperity for both the individual and society,” said Rattigan.
Making certain that her school is financially accessible for all families is paramount. All of Rattigan’s students receive between $7,600 and $9,500 a year to put toward their Colossal tuition, thanks to Florida’s robust school-choice programs that enable education dollars to follow students to their preferred learning environments. Colossal fundraisers and private scholarships help families cover the remaining tuition difference.
To expand her school’s reach beyond Florida, Rattigan recently launched Colossal Online, a virtual school with live, interactive classes and structured academic support. Annual tuition for the online program is $11,000, and most of Rattigan’s virtual students use school-choice programs to defray that cost as well.
School-choice policies like those in Florida are expanding nationwide. Currently, 33 US states, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, have a private school-choice program. In about a dozen states, those programs are universal, with all K-12 students eligible to participate. These programs make private education much more accessible to more families, especially with the introduction of new, affordable private schools like Colossal Academy.
2) They Are Innovative
Rattigan’s school is one of the roughly 120 innovative learning environments in South Florida, collectively serving approximately 10,000 students, according to data from the Innovative Educators Network. A grassroots organization that Rattigan co-founded with another local education entrepreneur, Toni Frallicciardi of Surf Skate Science, InEd supports the entrepreneurial parents and teachers who are opening new schools throughout the three largest counties in South Florida, and beyond. One InEd member is Priscilla Yuill, founder of Casa Ranch Montessori. A certified Montessori educator for over 15 years with a master’s degree in curriculum instruction and design, Yuill taught previously in Montessori schools and cherishes the child-centered, individualized educational approach of the Montessori philosophy. When Covid-19 hit, she began homeschooling her two young boys. Homeschooling was never on her radar, but she knew that pandemic-prompted remote schooling would not work well for her active sons.
Soon, other families began asking if Yuill would include their children in her Montessori-inspired pandemic learning pod. That small pod has now grown into a full-time program staffed by certified Montessori educators and serving more than 40 K-8 students. Yuill is positioning Casa Ranch to become the first recognized Montessori eco-school in South Florida, focusing on environmental sustainability and stewardship. “Our commitment to becoming an eco-school, while staying true to authentic Montessori principles, sets us apart from conventional and other private Montessori schools. Students leave our program with both core knowledge and vital life skills such as growing food, cooking, and public speaking—while developing a profound love for the earth,” said Yuill. Her program prioritizes outside time and operates out of several yurt-style classrooms brimming with natural light and colorful Montessori materials. All of Casa Ranch’s students identify as homeschoolers, and many attend with reduced tuition rates using Florida’s Personalized Education Program school-choice option.
3) They Are Small and Personalized
Further north, in Lakeland, Florida, Nicole Stewart-Jones launched her new K-12 microschool last fall. A public school teacher for years, Stewart-Jones grew increasingly frustrated by the standardized, one-size-fits-all approach of conventional schooling. “Nobody was having fun,” she told me during a recent podcast interview. The teachers were limited in what and how they could teach, with testing a major, often intrusive, component of the educational experience. Likewise, many students weren’t thriving in the teach-and-test cycle. “It was a no-win situation for me, but I stayed because that was the career that I chose, and I absolutely loved it. I absolutely loved the idea of making an impact in the lives of children,” said Stewart-Jones. She eventually began pondering the idea of opening her own school, in which curriculum and instruction could be personalized to the needs and interests of each child—without top-down teaching and testing mandates. In August, she opened Legacy Prep Christian Academy as a faith-based microschool. It now serves 15 homeschooled students, including 10 who attend the program full-time. All are enrolled with tuition assistance through Florida’s school-choice programs.
Stewart-Jones became captivated by the microschooling model and its unique ability to individualize education for each learner. She also saw the ways in which microschooling could improve academic outcomes—particularly for students of color. To encourage more educators to launch their own microschools, Stewart-Jones created the National Association of Black Microschool Leaders. “I believe that microschools have a very specific purpose. I believe that the very nature of microschools addresses some of the reading deficits that Black children have. Just the very fact that microschools are small—the very fact that there is a lot of personalized attention—that is what is needed to fill those holes. And it’s something that other school types cannot do as well,” said Stewart-Jones on the LiberatED podcast.
4) They Are Gaining Popularity
These small, personalized learning environments are catching on. In recent years, parents have expressed growing interest in private education options, while at the same time showing declining interest in traditional public schools. According to a January 2025 parent survey conducted by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, the percentage of parents considering a private or faith-based school increased 24% in 2025, compared to the 2022–2024 survey average. But the percentage of parents considering microschools or hybrid options more than tripled during that same time period, from 5% to 16%. Interest in homeschooling rose 39%.
Parents are more eager than ever for a diverse assortment of schooling options, and education entrepreneurs like Rattigan, Frallicciardi, Yuill, and Stewart-Jones are creating those options. New schools and emerging learning models are affordable, innovative, highly personalized, and increasingly popular. Today, private education is becoming widely accessible to many more families.
This article originally appeared in Forbes. Reproduced with permission. Original here.