Why educational choice matters more than ever in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Educational Choice Makes Education Better

I saw the op ed below in Complete recently and wanted to share. It details a movement in education that I was not aware of: microschools.

A couple of non-contiguous quotes help explain.

“Microschools are small learning communities typically serving less than 50 students, but which may have as many as 150. These schools are usually privately funded and launched by parents or educators to offer unique programs that address a specific need or demand in their communities. Low student-to-teacher ratios prioritize giving individual attention to each student.”

and

“Driven by a desire for change, most microschools do not adhere to the standard educational model. It is most common for microschools to feature mixed-age groups that reject traditional grade levels by adopting a student-driven curriculum and a highly personalized education model. Microschools encompass a diverse range of learning frameworks, including Montessori, Waldorf, classical education, outdoor learning, project- based learning, and styles tailored for individuals with learning disabilities. Mircoschools often provide flexible schedules to accommodate family needs, and some operate as homeschool programs, where students attend only a few days a week. There is a growing number of Colorado public charter microschools and one school district offers its own small learning community.”

It’s an intriguing idea and has apparently met with some success. In looking at it, I can tell you that it’s likely not something that could be scaled up well. I also can’t help but wonder if this is something more feasible in richer communities: not only is it a private school which must be funded by tuition, but any ways that you could cut costs would be hard to pull of for working families (having a microschool tie into a homeschooling group or groups is mentioned, but if both parents have to work in all the families …. ).

Still, I hold to what I put at the top of this post. Educational choice is a good thing. We want to encourage it.

If you feel inspired by this idea and want to explore it some, I put a link to the national microschooling center’s webpage below. I’ve not explored in it, but I figured a national org’s as good a place as any to start.

I have another resource, albeit a generalized one and not specific to microschools. The Independence Institute has a resource page about school choice for kids. It’s linked third below.

https://completecolorado.com/2025/08/16/microschools-an-updated-version-of-the-one-room-schoolhouse/

https://microschoolingcenter.org

https://www.schoolchoiceforkids.org/

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.