State guides
What your state actually requires of a small school
Whether you have to file anything to open, what you must keep and for how long, which dates bind you, and what a school-choice program demands before it will pay you — all of it is state law, and no two of these states agree. Each guide below was researched against primary sources: statute, administrative rule, and state agency documents.
Eight states, not fifty
This is not national coverage and is not on its way to being national coverage. These 8 were chosen on search demand and school-choice program size, and each one took a full research pass. If your state is not here, nothing on this site tells you what it requires — go to your state education agency, and treat any page that claims to cover all fifty in equal depth with suspicion. We would rather leave 42 gaps than publish 42 templated pages.
If your state isn't one of the eight
What your state requires, we won't guess at — ask your state education agency. What those requirements ask a school to keep is not state-specific: a daily attendance register, immunization evidence against the list your own state sets, permanent records that stay retrievable after a student leaves or the school closes, and CSV extracts carrying the columns agencies ask for. That side works the same in all fifty.
If your agency or scholarship program insists on its own worksheet, send the template to support@pearspark.com and we add it as a one-click preset. Tell us your state while you're there — the guides written next are the ones schools ask for.
77 cited requirements across 8 states · 163 source citations · This is a sourced reference, not legal advice. Every requirement on this page links to the statute, rule, or state agency document it came from — read the source before you act on it, and confirm with your own counsel or your state agency. Legislatures move: check the “last read” date on each item.
FLSchool-choice program
Florida
One annual survey to open, a daily register whose absence is a criminal offense, and a four-date calendar the moment you take scholarship money.
Read the Florida guide 10 cited requirements · 6 dated deadlines · sources as ofTXSchool-choice program
Texas
No state registration and no education-agency oversight — and then an ESA program that locks out any school under two years old.
Read the Texas guide 7 cited requirements · 3 dated deadlines · sources as ofAZSchool-choice program
Arizona
The enrollment affidavit is the parent's job, the immunization file is yours — and the ESA and the homeschool affidavit cannot both exist.
Read the Arizona guide 8 cited requirements · 4 dated deadlines · sources as ofOHSchool-choice program
Ohio
Three statuses, and the one you pick decides everything — including whether you can take EdChoice at all.
Read the Ohio guide 10 cited requirements · 6 dated deadlines · sources as ofINSchool-choice program
Indiana
A homeschool is legally a nonaccredited nonpublic school, so both run on one statute — and the duty is one line: keep daily attendance.
Read the Indiana guide 7 cited requirements · 3 dated deadlines · sources as ofUTSchool-choice program
Utah
The 2025 overhaul moved the homeschool record-keeping duty onto the school board — and Utah Fits All splits its rules at 150 enrolled students.
Read the Utah guide 10 cited requirements · 5 dated deadlines · sources as ofGASchool-choice program
Georgia
Monthly enrollment reports to every district you draw from, a 5:00 p.m. records clock, and a learning-pod statute that forbids the state from regulating you.
Read the Georgia guide 14 cited requirements · 9 dated deadlines · sources as ofNCSchool-choice program
North Carolina
The most explicit of the eight — notice of intent, attendance and immunization records, grade-banded testing, and the only stated retention period in the set.
Read the North Carolina guide 11 cited requirements · 6 dated deadlines · sources as ofThe part that is the same everywhere
The sequence the decisions bind in, the money arithmetic, and what 250 prelaunch founders said they most needed help with.