Starting and running a small school in Iowa

What the statute requires

• An unaccredited school is not a “nonpublic school” in Iowa law

  Chapter 280, the uniform school requirements, defines a nonpublic school as “any school, other than a public school, which is accredited pursuant to section 256.11,” and § 299.1 lets a parent satisfy compulsory attendance only with a public school, an accredited nonpublic school, or private instruction under chapter 299A. A school that is not accredited therefore has no legal category of its own: each compulsory-age child in it is under competent private instruction or independent private instruction, and a parent whose child is under private instruction that does not comply with chapter 299A is “subject to the provisions of sections 299.1 through 299.4 and the penalties provided in section 299.6.” Compulsory age runs from six to sixteen as of 15 September.

  Where this is unsettled: No Iowa statute or Department document read for this page describes a tuition-charging, unaccredited school with more than four unrelated students by name. Its legality is the sum of its parts: a licensed practitioner providing or supervising each child's instruction, and a Form A per child. Confirm that reading with counsel before opening unaccredited.

  Iowa Code § 280.2(1); § 299.1(1); § 299.1A(1); § 299A.1(1) · last read 19 October 2026

• Independent private instruction stops at four unrelated students and no tuition

  Section 299A.1(2)(b) lists eight criteria, and two of them end the microschool conversation: the instruction “enrolls not more than four unrelated students” and “does not charge tuition, fees, or other remuneration for instruction.” Within those limits it is the lightest regime in this set of states: no filing, no licensed teacher, no annual assessment, and a report naming the instructor, location, responsible authority and enrolled students only when the district superintendent or the Department asks in writing. A fifth unrelated student, or a tuition invoice, takes the arrangement out of IPI.

  Iowa Code § 299A.1(2)(b) · last read 19 October 2026

• An accredited school sets its own attendance requirement inside a 180-day or 1,080-hour calendar, and must require at least 148 days

  The school year for an accredited nonpublic school begins 1 July, the calendar starts “no sooner than August 23,” and it includes “not less than one hundred eighty days or one thousand eighty hours of instruction,” of which no more than five days or thirty hours may be delivered primarily over the internet without an approved exception. Within that calendar the governing body sets the number of days or hours of required attendance, and § 280.3(1) requires an attendance policy of at least 148 days, 37 in each school quarter. A year-round calendar needs an application to the Department by 1 November of the preceding school year.

  Iowa Code § 279.10(1)–(2); § 299.1(2); § 280.3(1) · last read 19 October 2026

• Teachers in an accredited school hold an Iowa license, and the school investigates student abuse under chapter 232E

  A teacher in an accredited school is “a member of the instructional professional staff who holds a license/certificate endorsed for the type of position in which employed,” and the board requires evidence of the license from every administrator, teacher and professional staff member. An educational assistant may not substitute for a teacher. Chapter 280 requires the authorities in charge of a nonpublic school to comply with chapter 232E on investigating student abuse by school employees, cooperate with the Department of Health and Human Services, and terminate an employee on a founded written report. Mandatory reporting under § 232.69 reaches “a licensed school employee” and any “school employee who is eighteen years of age or older.” None of this binds an unaccredited setting, where chapter 280 does not apply and no license is required unless the instruction is CPI under § 299A.2.

  IAC 281—12.4(8), (10); Iowa Code § 280.17; § 232.69(1)(b)(4) · last read 19 October 2026

What you file, and with whom

• A non-accredited school's families file Form A with the district by 1 September, one per child

  The parent, guardian or legal custodian of a compulsory-age child “who places the child under competent private instruction under section 299A.2, not in an accredited school,” files a report in duplicate on the district's form by 1 September: the child's name and age, the period of instruction, an outline of the course of study with subjects, lesson plans and time spent, the texts used, and the instructor's name and address. A first-time filer also attaches evidence of the § 139A.8 immunizations and, for an elementary-age child, a blood lead test. The Department's Private Instruction Handbook (August 2026) says plainly that compulsory-age students who attend a non-accredited school are required to file Form A, and that instruction provided or supervised by a licensed teacher carries no annual evaluation.

  Iowa Code § 299.4(1) · last read 19 October 2026

• State accreditation is applied for by 1 January of the year before; independent accreditation runs on the agency's 1 April list and a 15 July posting

  A school seeking state accreditation files its application with the director “on or before the first day of January of the school year preceding the school year for which accreditation is sought,” uploads a document review, hosts an on-site visit against Chapter 12, and goes to the State Board on the Department's recommendation. A school accredited by an approved independent agency instead gets on that agency's annual list, which is due to the Department by 1 April; the Department posts the updated nonpublic school list on 15 July, and a school not on the list is not accredited for the coming year. Once on it, the school opens an EdPortal account and each year supplies its address and contacts, enrollment data through Fall BEDS or Student Reporting in Iowa, students by resident district, and a set of assurances: compulsory attendance enforcement, fire and building codes, child care licensing, abuse and bullying law, civil rights law. A school an approved agency deaccredits may not seek accreditation from another listed agency for three years.

  IAC 281—12.1(3)(a), 12.10(1); Iowa Department of Education, Nonpublic School Accreditation · last read 19 October 2026

• Three enrollment collections a year, plus a once-a-year compulsory-attendance report to the district

  Accredited nonpublic schools report through the EdPortal: Certified Enrollment/NP by 15 October against a 1 October count date, with every student including ESA participants; Fall BEDS by 30 October; winter student data by 30 January; spring student data by 24 June; and assessment accountability certification by 25 June. Separately, § 299.3 makes the principal of an accredited nonpublic school certify to the public school district, within ten days of the district secretary's notice and once each school year, the names, ages and grade of every compulsory-age pupil, every truant with days of truancy, and every student who dropped out, withdrew or transferred with the date attendance ceased.

  Iowa Department of Education, Accredited Nonpublic School Reporting (Important Dates, 2026–27); Iowa Code § 299.3 · last read 19 October 2026

What you have to keep

How this part is kept in Pearspark: attendance is a register per school year, immunizations are tracked against the list your state sets, enrollment and withdrawal dates sit on the student record, and each student's permanent records stay retrievable by the family and by a receiving school even if the school closes. How records work.

• Immunization certificates are on file by the first day, kept three years after the student leaves, and audited by the county

  No child may be enrolled in an elementary or secondary school without evidence of the required immunizations, and the admitting official must have a valid Department certificate of immunization, exemption certificate or provisional certificate on file for each student “by the first day of attendance.” The school keeps the certificates on file, helps transfer them when a student leaves, and retains them for three years after transfer or graduation unless it hands the permanent immunization record to the student at graduation. Provisional enrollment runs no more than 60 calendar days. The local board of health audits the certificates in every school in its jurisdiction and reports to the state within 60 days of the first official day of school, with enrollment by grade and certificate counts by grade, so a school needs those counts ready in September. Exemption information must appear in any immunization communication to parents, in registration documents and on the school's website.

  IAC 641—7.7(2), 7.8(1)–(2); Iowa Code § 139A.8(2), (4)(c), (6) · last read 19 October 2026

• An accredited school keeps a permanent office record and a cumulative record for every student

  The accreditation standards require a system of student records with two parts. The permanent office record, kept under the student's legal name, holds “evidence of attendance and educational progress,” serves as the official transcript, and is “permanently maintained and stored in a fire-resistant safe or vault” or electronically with a secure backup. The cumulative record is the working file: courses, progress, attendance, physical and health record, interests, honors, activities, and a copy goes to a receiving school on request when the student transfers. The board adopts a records access and confidentiality policy that complies with FERPA and Iowa Code chapter 22. The rule sets no retention period for the cumulative record.

  IAC 281—12.3(4) · last read 19 October 2026

School-choice program conditions

• The Students First ESA equals the state cost per pupil, arrives in two halves, and pays only accredited nonpublic schools

  Each ESA payment “shall be equal to the regular program state cost per pupil for the same school budget year”: $8,148 for 2026–27, with a $4,074 half-year account added by House File 2754 (2026) for students who apply between 15 October and 15 November. Half reaches the account on 15 July or 30 days after the application is approved, whichever is later; the other half on 1 December. The statute's “nonpublic school” is § 285.16's, which means a school accredited by the Department, so an unaccredited school cannot take ESA money at all. Parents must spend the account on the school's tuition and fees before any other expense. The rule distributes funds “after confirming enrollment at the start of the academic year and enrollment and attendance at the midpoint,” which is why schools enter tuition twice, once a semester. A school “shall not refund, rebate, or share any portion of such payment with the parent, guardian, or pupil.”

  Iowa Code § 257.11B(1)(a), (2)(b), (4), (6)(a)–(b); § 285.16; IAC 281—20.4(2) · last read 19 October 2026

• 30 September is the cliff: unpaid fall tuition closes a full-year ESA, and status changes are due in three business days

  The Department's calendar for schools: fall funds available 15 July; by 30 September every full-year participant must be attending an accredited nonpublic school and have paid tuition and fees through the ESA portal by 11:59 p.m.; on 1 October eligibility is finalised and “full-year ESAs without verified enrollment will be closed.” Half-year participants face the same test on 14 January. Schools update enrollment statuses, Withdrew or Did Not Attend, through the portal within three business days of the change, and ESA students are reported through Certified Enrollment Nonpublic by 15 October. Money paid for a student who never attended is returned to the ESA; whether the family still owes tuition depends on the enrollment contract. Every ESA pupil takes all applicable state and federal assessments and the results are reported to the Department, which the accredited-school calendar certifies by 25 June.

  Where this is unsettled: These dates are Department guidance on its program page, not statute or rule. The code fixes only the 15 July deposit and a 1 January to 30 June application window; the half-year window and its 14 January deadline came from a bill signed 12 May 2026. Re-read the page each summer.

  Iowa Department of Education, Students First ESAs, “2026-27 ESA Calendar: Key Program Dates for Schools”; Iowa Code § 257.11B(11) · last read 19 October 2026

• Taking ESA money adds no state oversight; a rule that burdens a nonpublic school is void

  Section 257.11B(10) says the program “shall not be construed to authorize the state or any political subdivision of the state to exercise authority over any nonpublic school,” may not be read to require a school to change its admission standards or educational program, does not expand the state's power to regulate nonpublic schools beyond what the section needs, makes a participating school no agent of the state, and declares that Department rules “that impose an undue burden on a nonpublic school are invalid.” There is no ESA background-check regime, tuition-parity rule or disclosure filing in Iowa, unlike Utah or Louisiana.

  Iowa Code § 257.11B(10) · last read 19 October 2026