We’re Reporters, Not Teachers. We Were Able to Start Private Schools Anyway.

# Reporters Expose Lax Private School Regulations by Launching Unlicensed Schools

ProPublica journalists opened private schools in Arkansas, West Virginia, and North Carolina without teaching credentials, exposing gaping holes in state oversight of educational institutions. The reporting project revealed that multiple states impose virtually no meaningful barriers to founding schools, requiring only basic paperwork and minimal documentation before accepting students and tuition payments.

The experiment underscores a regulatory failure affecting thousands of families nationwide. Private schools operate under a patchwork of state laws that vary dramatically in rigor. Some states demand nothing more than notification filings. Others ask limited questions about instructor qualifications, curriculum standards, or facility safety. The reporters demonstrated that individuals with no educational background, no teaching licenses, and no pedagogical training could nonetheless establish operating schools and begin enrolling children.

Arkansas permitted the journalists to launch a private school with almost no scrutiny. The state's regulatory framework for private institutions relies heavily on parental choice and market forces rather than government oversight. West Virginia similarly imposed minimal requirements. North Carolina presented slightly more hurdles but ultimately allowed the school to operate once paperwork cleared basic administrative review.

This reporting reveals systemic gaps in state education codes. While public schools face extensive accreditation requirements, teacher certification mandates, curriculum standards, and facility inspections, private schools in many jurisdictions answer to almost no one. Parents enrolling children bear the burden of vetting institutions independently. No state agency verifies educational quality, instructor competence, or even basic safety measures before students arrive.

The implications reach far beyond journalism. Families investing in private education assume schools meet baseline standards. Tax policy in numerous states subsidizes private school attendance through education savings accounts and tax credits, directing public funds toward institutions that may lack meaningful accountability. Children spend hours daily in facilities no government body has inspected or approved.

State legislatures crafted these permissive frameworks based on ideological commitments to school choice and skepticism toward government regulation. Policymakers argued that parental oversight and market competition would naturally police quality. That theory assumes parents possess access to reliable information about school operations, staff qualifications, and educational outcomes. The reporters' experience suggests many do not.

The investigation does not identify specific statutory provisions by name, but the reporters' success indicates that private school statutes in these states contain no effective vetting mechanisms. Arkansas Code, West Virginia Code, and North Carolina General Statutes presumably allow private school operation upon minimal filing. Without explicit teacher certification requirements or facility inspection mandates written into statute, state agencies lack legal authority to impose such conditions.

This reporting may prompt legislative action. States could strengthen private school regulations by requiring instructor credentials, annual inspections, curriculum disclosure, and outcome reporting. Such measures would parallel public school accountability structures. Opposition from private school advocates and deregulation proponents will likely surface, framing tighter oversight as government overreach.

The ProPublica investigation documents a real problem with concrete evidence. Families considering private school enrollment now possess concrete reason to demand more information about instructors and operations. Policymakers face pressure to explain why private schools escape scrutiny that public institutions endure. The reporters' willingness to establish actual schools, rather than merely describing regulatory gaps theoretically, makes the vulnerability impossible to ignore.