HB1285 Legislative Brief

Primer helps entrepreneurial educators launch microschools in their communities. In July 2024, we helped pass landmark legislation in Florida to free up 50,000 new locations where new schools can open by-right.

We’re open-sourcing this legislation so that other US states can pass similar laws and unlock the new schools that their communities need.

“Most people think that the Department of Education sets the policies that create this friction for new, innovative schools to launch, but that’s actually not true. It’s actually the local land-use authorities, like zoning departments and counties and cities that end up creating most of the friction.”

Why did we pass this bill?

Our most radical belief is that we can make world-class education accessible to every American family.

Primer is carving what we know to be the highest-probability path to this future: we help educators across the US launch intimate schools that are tailor-made for the kids in their local communities. We call them microschools—and we’re working to open them across America.

Microschools inspire creativity, discovery, and the pursuit of goals over grades. But each location is also unique. At the helm of every microschool is an entrepreneurial educator equipped to educate and serve their community better than anyone else.

Our job is simple: remove every possible barrier to these exceptional educators launching microschools in their communities.

Earlier this year, we helped pass legislation that streamlines the zoning process for new microschools at 50,000 new locations across Florida. Now that it’s passed into law, we’re ready pulling the curtain back and open-sourcing the legislation so you can pass similar language in your state.

What does the legislation contain?

Our amendment to Florida’s HB1285 allows private schools to open by-right in the following facilities:

• Libraries
• Museums
• Community centers
• Community colleges
• Childcare facilities
• Theaters & cinemas
• Churches & other religious facilities

In Florida, approximately 50,000 locations fit into these categories. Importantly (as they should), these facilities must still pass state and local fire, safety, and health inspections.

How can my state pass this?

Legislators in several states have already told us they want to pass similar bills for their constituents, so we’re making it easy. Steal our amendment, expand it to even more types of facilities, and pass it.

Start with this legislative text

If you’d like to pass a similar amendment in your state, here’s the exact legislative text we used.

You can use it as a starting point:

A private school may use facilities on property owned or leased by a library, community service organization, museum, performing arts venue, theatre, cinema, or church facility under s. 170.201, which is or was actively used as such within 5 years of any executed agreement with a private school to use the facilities; any facility or land owned by a Florida College System institution or university; any similar public institutional facilities; and any facility recently used to house a school or child care facility licensed under s. 402.305, under any such facility's preexisting zoning and land use designations without rezoning or obtaining a special exception or a land use change, and without complying with any mitigation requirements or conditions. The facility must be located on property used solely for purposes described in this paragraph, and must meet applicable state and local health, safety, and welfare laws, codes, and rules, including fire safety and building safety.

We’re here to help

If you’d like to chat more, we’re always up for it: [email protected].