Starting her own school was never a part of Emily Niehaus’ career plan. She wasn’t a teacher. She wasn’t a principal. She was a mom. So when she saw that the options in her rural community didn’t serve her son, she stepped up. 

In 2021, Niehaus’ son, Oscar, was in the sixth grade at a local charter school in Moab, Utah. He is “2e” — that is, “twice exceptional” — meaning that he is both academically gifted and has an intellectual disability. It was clear the local high school wasn’t a great fit for his learning style, which favored smaller classes and a more flexible curriculum, and there were no other options in Moab, a city of only 5,000 people.

“They’re just really limited in what they are able to do structurally,” Niehaus said. “They can’t do small class sizes. They can’t reduce the overhead lighting. They can’t provide longer time during class and then longer time for transitions. While there were a lot of negatives for him attending the public school, I really thought that there was a better way to learn.”

To meet Oscar’s needs, Niehaus set out to create a new school herself. She founded the Heron School in 2022 as an option for 2e students who would benefit from project-based learning, smaller class sizes, and other unique attributes. 

“I thought, ‘Let’s point to what we want to see as a school, as opposed to continuing to say what doesn’t work for us at the public school,” Niehaus said. 

However, once the Heron School was up and running, it filled an important need in the community. Alternative schools are no longer the exception. Increasingly, they’re a much-needed option for families in the educational landscape, whether due to an intellectual disability or personal preference. 

According to a recent report by the Freedonia Group, an international research firm, the number of alternative schools (including microschools, homeschooling, and supplemental education) rose by 9% from 2022 to 2023. 

Here, Niehaus lays out a toolkit with four tangible steps to starting a school that every prospective founder needs to know — whether they have a background in education or not. Insights and resources like these diversify the education landscape and offer choices for parents, educators, and students of all kinds. 

They offer a world where everyone can thrive.

1. Research the unique parameters and legislature in your state

Niehaus recommends prospective founders try the existing system first. 

“I met with the superintendent,” she said. “I met with some teachers, and I was like, ‘Is there a way that we could have a gifted and talented program? Is there a magnet school option?’ You could look at — instead of reinventing the wheel — joining a group of really motivated educators. A lot of private schools need cheerleaders and more people that are working to expand what they offer.”

Once she realized that partnering with a pre-existing institution or educator wouldn’t be possible, Niehaus did some investigating. 

First was market research: checking to make sure there weren’t other schools in the area offering 2e programs similar to what Niehaus was hoping to start. In suburban or urban areas, prospective founders may discover an existing program that meets their needs. 

Once she confirmed no such school existed in Moab, Niehaus began researching the specific limitations in Utah for starting an independent school. Each state’s governing body will have their own “pretty black-and-white rules of what you can do,” Niehaus said. 

For instance, Utah recently passed a law expanding the zoning and building permits that dictate where an education startup can operate. In other states, there may be stringent legislation limiting a new school’s budget, certification, location, and enrollment requirements. 

Identifying your state’s unique educational parameters can help lay the foundation for what will be possible at your school, especially regarding size, location, and curriculum. 

2. Be creative and ambitious when looking for funding options

When it comes to funding, think outside the box. 

Niehaus didn’t just rely on traditional fundraising for the Heron School. While scouting locations for the school, Niehaus happened upon a bed-and-breakfast that had a second building up for sale. That gave her the idea to use the second building for the school while working with the bed-and-breakfast to house educators and visitors, creating a “profit for purpose” model. Then Niehaus found an investor who could help bring the vision to life. 

Still, it took several months for Niehaus to slog through the necessary paperwork and make sure the building was up to code according to ADA requirements. Once students were enrolled, funding became less about building a school and more about ensuring families could access financial support and pay tuition. 

Niehaus again recommended researching your specific state’s funding availability for alternative or individualized options. In Utah, for example, the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program recently doubled to $82 million to support K-12 students who want to exercise school choice. The Moab Scholarship Fund assists neurodiverse students who want to pursue full-time private options like the Heron School. 

In 17 states, education savings accounts provide families with the financial flexibility to cover tuition, resources, and any education tools that suit their unique needs (Utah Fits All is one example). By exploring these options with families, school founders can ensure they and their students have the funding needed to grow together.

3. Work with both parents and students to design realistic, individualized goals and curriculum

Any school founder, even if they come from an educational background, needs to think of their work as a business. What does that look like?

Once the Heron School was fully operational, Niehaus had a very particular framework for evaluating its progress and making sure it was meeting students’ needs. 

“If you’re going to be an entrepreneur in the education space, you have to be super flexible because you’re pretty much putting new products on the shelf,” she said. “I think that if you were to survey children in America at age 14 and ask them, ‘What’s your favorite thing to do? What are you really good at? How would you like to spend your day?’ you would get zero answers that fit the public school profile.” 

Instead of depending on a traditional academic curriculum, Niehaus designed one specific to the needs and goals of her students. In other words, she treated her students and families like customers and herself as customer service. 

Her methods were akin to Customer First Measurement™, a transformational feedback model increasingly being used by nonprofits. With Customer First Measurement, leaders use direct client input to shape their offerings and approach.

Rather than measure outputs like the amount or frequency of services offered (in Niehaus’ case, this would equate to measuring graduation rates or test scores), nonprofits evaluate how improved their customers’ lives are. 

“We’re able to ask, ‘What are the interests of the students?’” said Niehaus. “‘What are the assets of the students? What are their strengths?’ And then we can develop a curriculum around that.” The Heron School meets state standards for core subjects like English, science, and math but does so using an engaging project-based curriculum that aligns with students’ talents and passions.

Niehaus doesn’t advise planning your school’s curriculum and then leaving it permanently set. Instead, she and her staff continually work with parents and students to elicit feedback and improve their offerings. 

“If you have a really good feedback model, you can evolve and change based on the needs that you’re trying to solve for,” she said, stressing that it is important to get feedback from families as well as students. She believes families are key players in education that are often overlooked. 

“Parents in America have been disabled to be engaged with what our kids are learning,” she said. “Every parent is going to have a different experience for themselves and have different expectations for the education of their kid.”

To tap into this, Heron School staff work directly with families to design individualized education plans for their students. It begins with meeting parents and students together to identify the student’s unique interests, goals, and learning styles. From there, they design a class schedule tailored to those needs.

The planning doesn’t stop there. Throughout the year, they continue to meet with families to do check-ins and make sure that they’re happy, fulfilled, and satisfied with their child’s curriculum. 

4. Consider longevity and sustainability as you expand 

Success means expansion may follow. If so, any founder will need a plan. 

In just three years, the Heron School has grown from three students — one of whom was Niehaus’ son, Oscar — to 12, with two full-time teachers on staff. The plan is to hire a new educator for every six students that enroll, with hopes of starting the 2025-26 school year with 18 students. 

Niehaus recognizes that this kind of growth means the needs, curriculum, and offerings will also need to adjust.

“I need to broaden my scope of what students we are serving,” Niehaus said. She noted that it is important to stay true to the school’s foundation of individualized, project-based learning — but, at the same time, every new cohort of students will mean a fresh look at the school’s services. 

That means not only continuing to rely on regular check-ins to gauge families’ satisfaction, but also recognizing an equally bittersweet and triumphant reality: After putting so much work into founding the Heron School, Niehaus has to also plan for her eventual departure. 

“I think a good entrepreneur does a lot of succession planning to make sure that whatever business they start can continue with or without the founder,” Niehaus said. For her, this is still many years out, but in the meantime, it’s important to work with her staff members to think about who might grow into different administrative roles and what gaps must be addressed in Niehaus’ absence. 

“I’ll continue to be super involved with our school until it’s time for me to start thinking about succession planning,” Niehaus said. “But I definitely intend to make sure that this school withstands the test of time and certainly exists past my timeline.”

As alternative education options like the Heron School take root in communities, they will build a legacy — graduating classes that contribute to the local workforce and families with multiple siblings who share the experience.

This isn’t a loss for local public and private schools — it’s a win. A diverse education landscape fosters competition and movement, strengthening every option. Founders who launch their own schools uplift communities, and their success benefits everyone. 

“We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing until we’re not allowed to anymore, or until miraculously the public school can serve the needs of all the kids in all the community in all the ways,” Niehaus said. “I actually remember thinking as I was starting the school that we are actually lessening the burden on the public school to deal with this group of students. That’s really challenging and beautiful and rewarding. It’s exciting.”

The Heron School is supported by VELA, which as part of the Stand Together community supports everyday entrepreneurs who are boldly reimagining education.

Learn more about Stand Together’s education efforts and explore ways you can partner with us.