When Mara Linaberger lost her position as a school district administrator, she was at a crossroads. She never expected that what seemed like a low point would eventually lead her to start her own business, Microschool Builders.
After she was so abruptly dismissed, Mara began to question the system and why it worked the way it did. She started to investigate alternative education models and learned about small schools using models such as Montessori, Waldorf, or Reggio Emelia. She even taught in a one‐room schoolhouse off the coast of Maine.
As she got deeper into the alternative education world, Mara began to re‐think the current system. She realized it wasn’t working for a number of children—it wasn’t treating them as unique learners and allowing them to lead with their personal interests. She decided to put her background to use to help teachers and parents create small microschools that would be a modern take on the one‐room schoolhouse. In 2017, she wrote The Micro‐School Builder’s Handbook to help would‐be school founders through the process of starting a microschool.
Building on her 25‐year career as a public school educator, teacher trainer, and administrator, along with her increasing understanding that there are better ways to educate children, Mara launched Microschool Builders in 2019. Her goal is to serve people who want to create an educational environment that treats each child as an individual.
Microschool Builders offers varying levels of support. Prospective clients can start with a 30‐minute “clarity call” to diagnose a prospective builder’s needs, offer solutions, and to discuss the workshop.
The heart of Microschool Builders is the 9‑week workshop to map the business plan, budget, and marketing strategy. The workshop includes a weekly call with Mara, full‐time access to her and her team, and gives budding microschool owners the opportunity to learn from each other as they work through the steps of building their schools.
The next level is the StartUP, a year‐long membership to go from idea to launch. Mara offers the Collective for clients interested in scaling and replication—and potentially becoming leaders in the movement, coaching new school builders
The biggest roadblock Mara sees in her clients is fear. Not surprisingly, this often means fear of failure as they’re potentially risking their own careers, stability, salaries, and personal funds. Mara is confident her process helps alleviate those fears by equipping them with a plan to minimize the risk as much as possible.
But many fear success as well—what if they get up and running and someone comes to shut them down? Mara trains her clients to overcome those challenges by educating local officials, asking them to show what rules they are breaking, and working with them to make the microschool legal if there is a legitimate issue. For example, she worked with the owner of a licensed private school in Minnesota who bought property on 15 acres to relocate, and the town said she needed 20 acres to operate a school. Mara’s client explained that she had students who were counting on her and asked what she could do. The town officials said she could operate as a homeschool co‐op, so she worked with her families to get them registered as homeschoolers.
Mara admits starting a microschool is hard. One owner called it the hardest thing she’s ever done, but also the best thing she’s ever done. “Hard is good,” says Mara. “People climb Mt. Everest because it’s hard. They run marathons because it’s hard. But there are pathways. My book and guide provide a framework. The workshop and collective offer more support as well as a community. While they can do it on their own, it’s a lot more fun working together.”
As education entrepreneurship continues to expand, organizations like Microschool Builders offer support and guidance so school founders aren’t constantly reinventing the wheel. Mara has supported dozens of microschools that are now up and running—across the U.S. and in other countries. “Changing the face of education one small school at a time,” isn’t just a tagline for Mara; it’s her mission with Microschool Builders.
Originally published by the Cato Institute. Republished with permission under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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