By Robbie Sequeira, Stateline.org

When Siri Fiske founded the Mysa Microschool in Washington, D.C., in 2016, there wasn’t a widely accepted term for her small, one-room schoolhouse model.

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Now, the school is referred to on its website as one of the first microschools in the nation, and Fiske has seen a growing microschool movement since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the five years since remote schooling amid pandemic-era lockdowns, microschools and homeschooling have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives to traditional public and private models. Smaller class sizes, individualized classrooms and lack of standardization are an appeal to parents, Fiske said.

“There’s this idea that people who open microschools are doing it for cultish or religious reasons, and there’s a misconception that all are like that,” Fiske said. “I’ve seen my students graduate into top colleges. There’s many ways to achieve academic success.”

Some education experts, however, have expressed concern about the growing movement. They question whether microschools are properly regulated and being held accountable, and whether they’ll pull dollars out of the public education system.

There is no federal definition of a microschool, and with the Trump administration’s plans to shutter the U.S. Department of Education, the onus is on states to figure them out.

In some states, microschools face a bind: If they operate as private schools, they’re required to meet facility, staffing and curricular standards that are often cost-prohibitive for schools their size. If they operate under homeschool laws, they face oversight, assessment mandates and reporting requirements that aren’t designed for multifamily or educator-led models.

Some states, including Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, have passed “Learning Rights Protection Acts” to codify microschools’ right to operate.

In Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon, learning pods and microschools often face child care or private school licensing requirements if they involve multiple families, hire instructors or provide compensation for child care.

“Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I would’ve called one back then. But I think that’s OK. It’s evolving,” Fiske said.

She pointed to the national school choice movement — and states such as West Virginia — for helping the microschool movement flourish.

In 2022, West Virginia became one of the few states to define a microschool, distinctly separating it from a private school, homeschool or learning pod.

Those classifications, and how these schools are funded and regulated, affect everything from whether a school must hire certified teachers to how it ensures student safety or civil rights protections. And with more public dollars flowing to private or hybrid learning options through vouchers and education savings accounts — to the detriment of public school funding, some argue — states will need to define these schools and their place in the ecosystem.

States will have to fill the gaps, said Weadé James, senior director of K-12 education policy with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy think tank.

“Accountability can vary wildly. Some microschools aren’t required to have certified teachers, conduct annual assessments, or even guarantee civil rights protections,” said James. “If public voucher dollars are going to a microschool, there has to be some level of oversight and accountability.”

Many microschools aren’t accredited

Microschools defy easy classification, and many advocates argue that’s by design. Don Soifer, CEO of the National Microschooling Center, an industry group, cautions lawmakers against rushing to impose fixed legal definitions.

“Innovation is happening too fast. The moment you define it in law, it becomes obsolete,” Soifer said.

A 2024 sector analysis by the National Microschooling Center — one of the only sources of national data on the topic — found that many schools are operating outside traditional education principles.

In a survey of 400 microschools across 41 states, more than 60% of founders reported they were not currently licensed educators. Eighty-four percent reported their schools were not accredited. Among prospective founders, 48% are licensed educators (though only 14% currently work in public schools), 32% come from non-education fields, and 23% are parents building schools for their own children.

Most microschools (55%) operate under homeschool laws, while others function as private schools (37%), charters (6%) or fall into unique state categories (3%), according to the analysis.

“So, you can be a private or homeschool microschool program, where you aren’t required to provide students with certified teachers, or you aren’t required to conduct annual assessments,” James said.

Often described as “homeschool hybrids” or “small-scale learning communities,” microschools often serve around 16 students or fewer, and tend to cater to families with average or above-average incomes in their area. In some states, microschools have been authorized to receive public funds through voucher programs.

Some critics note that, like private schools, microschools may charge tuition, potentially excluding lower-income families and contributing to educational disparities.

These schools often operate in commercial spaces (41%), private residences (28%) or houses of worship (25%), according to the National Microschooling Center. The center also found the movement is diversifying: 37% of prospective founders are people of color, compared with 27% of current operators.

Because building and zoning codes vary from state to state and locality to locality, many operators may be unaware of the extra costs to meet school codes standards. Fiske recalls difficulties in expanding from Washington, D.C., to Vermont, which has stricter laws on water fountain requirements.

“Most people in the U.S. starting a microschool are doing it under the radar because the regulations to open a licensed school are so intense,” Fiske said. For the new school, she recalled, “it took us forever, and we had to install ADA-compliant toilets and water fountains for just 10 kids in Vermont.”

‘Microschooling is not one thing’

Microschools also operate in a legal gray zone, often outside the traditional K-12 system and subject to a patchwork of state and local policies that can either support or constrain their growth.

Growth has accelerated in conservative-leaning states with robust school choice programs, such as Arizona and Florida. Other states, such as Maryland, New York and North Dakota, have more restrictive homeschool or private school laws.

“Microschooling is not one thing. These schools look different in every state, and the policy frameworks around them vary wildly,” said Soifer, of the National Microschooling Center.

What is classified as a microschool can vary from “10 kids in a basement in Kentucky” to a 200-kid schoolhouse elsewhere.

Fiske said states need to create a way for operators and parents to know what to expect in a certain state, and help willing operators get the education and business acumen they need to run the schools successfully.

“But if you look at who is starting microschools in the U.S., it’s a lot of millennial parents who may not have any teacher training but wanted to create a learning environment for their children and others in the local community,” said Fiske. “And without efforts by the state to provide some incentives to earn accreditation and information as both a school and a small business, a few of these will find themselves going under.”

Seeking choices

After two decades working in conventional schools in the United States and around the world — including in Brazil, Egypt and Qatar — Justine Wilson turned down a high-paying leadership role at a prestigious private school. Instead, in 2023 she opened Curious and Kind Education, a two-day-a-week microschool in Sarasota, Florida, built around trust, nature-based learning and self-directed play.

Enrollment at Curious and Kind is mostly driven by word of mouth, she said. The program now has a waitlist. And Wilson has seen her enrollment grow from 18 students in her first year to roughly 100 students for the upcoming school year.

“The number of 5-year-olds on my waitlist is shocking,” she said, “and then I realized they’re COVID babies and their parents have really been driving this search for alternative schooling since the pandemic.”

James, of the Center for American Progress, questions whether microschools generally match the quality of traditional public schools, which still educate more than 80% of schoolchildren. She says families may be under the assumption that school choice options equate to better quality.

“We have created an illusion of choice to be quality, and I think a lot of families are seeking various choice options because they associate that with quality. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that where those students are going is any better than where they left,” she said.

“We need to take a closer look at what we are presenting to families,” James said. “It’s not just about having options and having a choice. It’s about having quality choice options.”

That quality, Soifer said, is what microschools are trying to achieve.

“Microschools do very well on the left, on the right … at the top end of the economy and at the fragile end of the income spectrum,” he said. “It’s really a matter of the new economy and a new way of thinking about education.”

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Paula Span, KFF Health News

A long list of Lynda Hollander’s paternal relatives had heart disease, and several had undergone major surgeries. So when she hit her mid-50s and saw her cholesterol levels creeping up after menopause, she said, “I didn’t want to take a chance.”

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A cardiologist told Hollander that based on factors like age, sex, cholesterol, and blood pressure, she faced a moderate risk of a major cardiac event, like a heart attack, within the next 10 years.

Doctors typically counsel such patients about the importance of diet and exercise, but Hollander, now 64, a social worker in West Orange, New Jersey, didn’t have much room for improvement. She was already a serious runner, and although “I fall off the wagon once in a while,” her diet was basically healthy. Attempts to lose weight didn’t lower her cholesterol.

Her doctor explained that a coronary artery calcium test, something Hollander had never heard of, could provide a more precise estimate of her risk of atherosclerotic heart disease. Her doctor explained that a coronary artery calcium test, something Ms. Hollander had never heard of, could provide a more precise estimate of her risk of atherosclerotic heart disease. A brief and painless CT scan, it would‌ indicate whether the fatty deposits called plaque were developing in the arteries leading to her heart.

When plaque ruptures, it can cause clots that block blood flow and trigger heart attacks. The scan would help determine whether Hollander would benefit from taking a statin, which could reduce plaque and prevent more from forming.

“The test is used by more people every year,” said Michael Blaha, co-director of the preventive cardiology program at Johns Hopkins University. Calcium scans quadrupled from 2006 to 2017, his research team reported, and Google searches for related terms have risen even more sharply.

Yet “it’s still being underused compared to its value,” he said.

One reason is that although the test is comparatively inexpensive — sometimes up to $300, but often $100 or less — patients usually must pay for it out-of-pocket. Medicare rarely covers it, though some doctors argue that it should.

Patients with a CAC score of zero — no calcification — have lower risk than their initial assessments indicate and aren’t candidates for cholesterol-lowering drugs. But Hollander’s score was in the 50s — not high but not negligible.

“It was the first indication of what was going on inside my arteries,” she said.

Though guidelines vary, cardiologists generally offer statins to patients with calcium scores over zero, and suggest higher intensity statins when scores exceed 100. At over 300, patients’ risks approach those of people who’ve already had heart attacks; they may need still more aggressive treatment.

Hollander has taken a low dose of rosuvastatin (brand name: Crestor) ever since, supplemented by a non-statin drug, a shot called evolocumab (Repatha).

This is the way calcium testing is supposed to work. It’s not a screening test for everyone. It’s intended only for selected asymptomatic patients, ages 40 to 75, who have never had a heart attack or a stroke and are not already on cholesterol drugs.

The test helps answer a pointed question: to statin, or not to statin.

If a doctor calculates the 10-year risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at 5% or lower, drugs are unnecessary for now. Over 20%, “there’s no doubt the risk is sufficiently high to justify medication,” said Philip Greenland, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University and co-author of a recent review in JAMA.

“It’s the in-between range where it’s more uncertain,” he said, including “borderline” risk of 5% to 7.5% and “intermediate” risk of 7.5% to 20%.

Why add another measurement to these assessments, which already incorporate risk factors like smoking and diabetes?

“A risk score is derived from a large population, with mathematical modeling,” Blaha explained. “We can say that this score describes the risk of heart disease among thousands of people. But there are lots of limitations in applying them to one individual.”

A calcium scan, however, produces an image of one individual’s arteries. Alexander Zheutlin, a cardiology fellow and researcher at Northwestern University, shows patients their images, so that they can see the lighter-colored calcifications.

Cardiologists tend to be fans of calcium testing, because they so regularly encounter patients who are reluctant to take statins. People who feel fine may hesitate to start drugs they’ll take for the rest of their lives, despite statins’ proven history of reducing heart attacks, strokes and cardiac deaths.

In 2019, a survey of almost 5,700 adults for whom statin therapy was recommended found that a quarter were not in treatment. Of those, 10% had declined a statin and 30% had started and then discontinued, primarily citing fear of side effects.

An American College of Cardiology expert consensus report recently put the rate of muscle pain, statin users’ most common complaint, at 5% to 20%. Researchers consider the fear of side effects overblown, citing studies showing that reports of muscle pain were comparable whether patients took statins or placebos.

“The actual risk is much, much lower than the perceived risk,” Zheutlin said.

That may be little comfort to people who are in pain, but cardiologists argue that reducing doses or switching to different statins usually solves the problem. Some patients will do better on a non-statin cholesterol drug.

Hollander, for example, suffered “muscle cramps that would wake me up at night.” Her doctor advised fewer doses, so Hollander now takes Crestor three days a week and self-injects Repatha twice monthly.

(Statins also carry a very low risk of a dangerous condition, rhabdomyolysis, that causes muscle breakdown, and they slightly increase the chance of diabetes.)

Some caveats: No one has undertaken a randomized clinical trial to show whether calcium testing eventually reduces heart attacks and cardiac deaths. That’s why, although several professional associations endorse calcium scans to help determine treatment, the independent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has called the current evidence “insufficient” to recommend widespread use.

Such a trial would be expensive and difficult to mount, with many confounding variables. And pharmaceutical companies aren’t eager to underwrite one, since a successful result could mean that patients with zero scores avoid cholesterol drugs altogether.

But a recent Australian study of asymptomatic patients with family histories of coronary artery disease found that, after three years, those who had undergone calcium scans had sustained a reduction in cholesterol and a significantly lower risk of heart disease than those who had not been tested.

The test “leads to more statin prescriptions, better adherence to statins, less progression of atherosclerosis, and less plaque growth,” Greenland said of the study, in which he was not involved. “It tips the scale.”

Another concern: people age 75 and older. Most will have arterial plaque, making a scan’s benefit “less clear-cut,” said Zheutlin, lead author of a recent JAMA Cardiology article pointing out that CAC testing can be both overused and underused.

Because older adults face more chronic diseases and medical issues, cholesterol-lowering may become a lower priority. A study now enrolling participants over 75 should answer some questions about statins, calcium scans, and dementia in a few years.

Meanwhile, cardiologists see calcium scans as a persuasive tool.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Zheutlin said. With statins, “we have cheap, safe, effective drugs available at any pharmacy” that help prevent heart attacks. If CAC test results prove more influential than traditional risk assessments alone, he said, more patients might agree to take them.

A calcium scan helped Stephen Patrick, 70, a retired tech executive in San Francisco, reach that point. “For years, I was borderline on cholesterol, and I managed to beat it back with less cheese toast” and lots of exercise, he said. “I was on no meds, and I took pride in that.”

Last fall, with both his total and his LDL cholesterol higher than recommended, his doctor suggested a calcium scan. His score: 176.

He’s taking atorvastatin (Lipitor) daily, and his cholesterol levels have dropped dramatically. “I might have tried it anyway,” he said. “But the calcium score meant I had to pay more attention.”

The New Old Age is produced through a partnership with The New York Times.

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald

MIAMI — From the front yards of West Miami-Dade to the waterfront mansions of Fort Lauderdale, artificial turf is appearing more and more.

And with the spread of artificial turf comes a mounting number of questions and criticisms — about everything from how it looks to how it impacts the environment, the climate and even human health. This stuff, made of plastic, can get absolutely skin scorching in the extreme heat of a South Florida summer.

But some homeowners still prefer it over natural, said Yoandy Perez, who has installed artificial turf at multiple homes in one East Hialeah neighborhood because they like that it looks neat year-round and saves on landscaping costs.

“The city doesn’t like concrete, but they want green,” said Perez. “Many places here are just sandy soil and construction fill. The clients prefer the turf.”

Now, a new state law has opened the multibillion-dollar artificial grass industry to what could be a big expansion, with lawmakers moving to forbid cities from banning fake grass in front yards. In Hialeah, turf is allowed with proper permits. But several South Florida cities and towns — including Coral Gables, Miami, Miami Lakes and Pembroke Pines — allow fake grass only out of sight in back or side yards.

But researchers and city governments say there are many downsides to expanding Florida’s fake grass footprint. Scientists warn that the synthetic plastic grass blades (beyond being made from petroleum) are not well suited for the warmer and wetter world the state is already experiencing from climate change. Artificial grass also can become extremely hot, doesn’t have the best drainage and isn’t easy to recycle.

Then there’s aesthetics of it. There have been years of fake vs. real disputes, including in Miami. When the real stuff along Brickell Avenue was ripped out and replaced with artificial, residents protested until the Miami officials agreed to remove the $230,160 project.

For now, despite the new law, the future of fake grass remains in a bit of a flux. This week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, started accepting public comments and working on rule-making for turf on residential properties. Coral Gables and Miami Lakes officials told the Herald they are holding off changes to their permitting process until the state releases those standards.

“Once released, the Town will compare the State’s standards with the existing Town ordinance,” said Daniel Angel, Miami Lakes’ zoning director.

Fake can feel baked

In sun-drenched places like Miami, where extreme heat warnings are common, you can often feel the difference between fake and real. Natural grass tends to cool thing off. And that’s not just what you or your dog might feel under your feet. University of Florida assistant professor Marco Schiavon, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, said widespread use of synthetic grass could contribute to even higher local temperatures.

“What surprised me was that artificial turf grass on stadiums was often, if not always, warmer than the parking lot right next to it,” Schivaon said. He said he’s measured artificial turf to be as much as 100 degrees hotter than real grass.

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Earlier this week, with partly cloudy skies and the air temperature at 91 degrees, the Herald conducted its own check using an infrared thermometer. The results were not quite as extreme but still striking: In many locations, artificial turf measured nearly 40 degrees hotter than natural grass.

At the dog park at Margaret Pace Park in Miami, the turf reached 150 degrees, while the grass nearby was 112. That was not the only issue. Kevin Lopez, who came with his German shepherd mix Cosmo, said, “The smell is worse on the turf, and the poop just sticks.”

Aida Curtis, a landscape architect with 40 years of local experience, said she refuses to use artificial turf in her designs because of how it absorbs heat and is a danger to children, dogs and the environment and is a “liability waiting to happen.”

“We’re already into the problem of climate change. Severe high temperatures, more rain, and rather than going back to nature, like putting grass, we’re removing a natural system to put an artificial system,” Curtis said.

Spraying the turf with water, common before many sports events. can cool it down but also tamps down on a benefit that the industry highlights — that it doesn’t need watering.

“You are replacing turf grass with artificial for water conservation, but then you find yourself watering a piece of plastic in order to have that piece of plastic functional, and at that point, you have lost all the environmental benefits,” said UF’s Schiavon.

Soccer player Andy Rodriguez practices at the Little Haiti Soccer Park, which is covered with artificial turf at noon where temperatures measured several degrees higher than in the natural turf covered areas, on July 29, 2025. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS)

A rainstorm over a Little Haiti soccer field showed the difference water can make, but it’s still hotter than the real stuff. After the storm, the artificial turf field was 120 degrees and the grass right beside it was 96 degrees — a 24-degree difference.

“You can see the heat radiating from the turf,” said Anthony Rodriguez, a 16-year-old playing for the first time at the soccer field.

But the fake grass does have one upside in a heat wave, according to the artificial turf industry. It looks good. It won’t dry up and turn patchy — its color remains pristine green.

Drainage questions

While the newer, artificial turf is designed with drainage holes, some experts say it’s still not enough for the stronger and wetter storms Miami is prone to have because of climate change.

Jason Kruse, an associate professor of turfgrass science at the University of Florida, said fake grass takes an area that would’ve been naturally permeable and reduces its infiltration potential.

“Because of the rainfall that we get in Florida, we need a place for that water to go. And if we can infiltrate it into the profile, that’s better for everybody, because it gets down to the aquifer and we don’t have to deal with it in the stormwater system,” he said. “ I suspect that if we were to see more installation of synthetic turf that may result in more runoff, which could have some consequences that we’re not really thinking about at the moment.”

It’s important to note that there are different standards of turf in the industry that could be better suited for water, Kruse said. Bigger sports fields are usually evacuated and then storm drainage is added underneath in those cases, he said.

Real grass, on the other hand, helps with drainage and a healthy soil microbiome. Kruse said the roots open up pathways underground that loosen the soil undergrowth, and leave a channel water can seep through.

“You do see increased infiltration over time with these established root zones,” he said.

While synthetic turf lacks the ecological benefits of natural grass, Goodman, Perez and others in the industry point to how it doesn’t require any pesticides or fertilizer, which drive many of the state’s water pollution problems.

But scientists told the Herald that while it eliminates fertilizer run-off, there is concern of the grass breaking down over time and contributing to micro-plastic pollution in our waterways.

Juan Jose waters the artificial turf in the front of his house in the East Hialeah, Florida, area, where this kind of material installation is in high demand in the area, on July 29, 2025. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS)

Landfill-bound

Artificial grass has a lifespan of about eight to 10 years, and after that, most of it goes to the landfill. Some companies specialize in artificial grass recycling, such as Artificial Grass Recyclers, but Kruse said they aren’t always regionally accessible.

“It’s not cost-effective to transport it to a location where they can recycle it. So most of these products end up in landfills at the end of life,” Kruse said.

Whatever the concerns, artificial turf does offer a quick fix to someone who wants a good looking lawn out front. One homeowner in Hialeah said he took a DIY approach to recycling old turf in his yard. Juan José explained that his son salvaged some artificial turf from a job where it was being removed, and they installed it themselves last year.

“We like how it looks much more,” he said. “We plan to get the rest of the yard done this year.”

Sean Goodman, the owner of Royal Synthetic Turf, which is based in South Florida, said lawmakers made the right call in responding to consumer demand. The restrictions by some cities hurt business because most customers want entire lawns redone, not just a piece of it.

“If the customer wants the entire house with artificial turf,” he said, “we should be able to do it.”

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

CATHERINE DANG: Presents her novel “What Hunger,” in conversation with Josh Moehling. 7 p.m. Tuesday, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

LAROCHELLE/MUSKE: David LaRochelle and Colleen Muske sign copies of their new children’s picture book “How To Draw a Tree.” 10-11:30 a.m. Friday, Lake Country Booksellers, 4766 Washington Ave., White Bear Lake.

John Gaspard (Courtesy of Minnesota Mystery Night)
Jim Cunningham (Courtesy of Minnesota Mystery Night)

MINNESOTA MYSTERY NIGHT: Magic and illusion on the page and stage is the theme for this month’s MMN program featuring John Gaspard and Jim Cunningham. Gaspard is the award-winning author of 10 Eli Marks mysteries, the latest of which is “Twisting the Aces,”  and Como Lake Players mystery series as well as “Held Over,” a retrospective about the two-year run of “Harold and Maude” at the Westgate Theater in Edina. He’s also a screenwriter and filmmaker. St. Paul native Cunningham is an actor who most recently played Groucho in the world premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher’s “Groucho Marx Meets T.S. Eliot” at Illusion Theater. He has played James J. Hill for the Minnesota Historical Society and narrates audiobooks, including the Eli Marks series. 7 p.m. Monday, Lucky’s 13 Pub, 1352 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota. $13. Reservations required. Go to mnmysterynght.com. Dinner service begins at 5:30 p.m.

BRANDY SCHILLACE: Discusses “The Dead Come to Stay,” a cozy crime novel featuring an amateur autistic sleuth and a wry English detective. The Ohio-based autistic author is a historian and editor. In conversation with Minnesota crime writer Matt Goldman. 7 p.m. Wednesday, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

What else is going on

Friends of the St. Paul Public Library announced “Evidence of V” by Sheila O’Connor as the fall pick for One Book/One Minnesota, the statewide book club inviting Minnesotans of all ages to read a common title and come together virtually to enjoy and discuss. The reading period continues though Sept. 28, with a virtual conversation with the author at 7 p.m. Sept. 17. O’Connor’s widely praised, genre-jumping 2019 book, subtitled “A Novel In Fragments, Facts, and Fictions,” is based on how she discovered her mother was born to a 15-year-old inmate of the Minnesota Home School for Girls in Sauk Centre. All Minnesotans are invited to access a free ebook edition of “Evidence of V.” Go to thefriends.org.

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