Private School

Enrollment and Scholarships still open for 2026-2027 school year

  • We offer a full-time private school for children ages 5-18 with a core program that is 3-4 days a week and one “independent day” (see our FAQ under “Are you legally a private school?” for more information.)

    Youth enrolled in our full-time program receive one-on-one mentorship, engagement in our democratic consensus-based decision-making, youth leadership opportunities through clerkships and hiring, and more!

  • Our Enrollment is OPEN! Fill out the Admissions Application here.

    Enrollment Process

    Youth with completed enrollment contracts by August 2026 will be invited to join a special hiring committee, tasked with hiring our 3rd staff member. Subsequent hiring will take place during the school year.

  • Meraki operates Monday-Thursday, 9am-3pm. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday are on campus days, while Wednesday is a Flying Squad day, which will meet at a predetermined location off campus, and explore the city. We will be following the Portland Public School schedule for our holiday and seasonal breaks.

    Youth attending less than 4 days a week (full time) are free to choose their schedule of days at time of enrollment. We ask that every youth attend Thursdays, to participate in General Assembly (our decision making meeting). We also ask that you stick to your regular planned schedule unless you need to miss and have checked-in with a facilitator about switching days.

  • Tuition is
    $13,000/year for four days a week
    $10,500/year for three days a week

    This is for access to our full program, including individual mentors, clerkships, and more. We have a scholarship program for those who need financial support.

  • Mutual Aid Tuition is our commitment to working with families to make Meraki accessible to a diversity of Portland families. That makes tuition look different for each family, depending on attendance frequency, family income, access to charter or children's scholarship funds, and the Erskine Democracy scholarship fund, our school fund.

    Being an independent private school is a key part of maintaining our independence, freedom and privacy but its shouldn't mean its a exclusive club. Our dream is Meraki is financial accessible and diverse, Our Schlorship fund was seeded a generous donation by Peter Erskine, who believes in that vision and the power of democratic education.

    It our hope his generous gift will inspire others and our community to make this fund sustaining for years to come. 

    SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THE 2026-2027 SCHOOL YEAR STILL AVAILABLE.

    Keep the momentum going by contributing to the fund here.

  • We accept Charter School funds for our program! However, the charters leave it up to each parent/family to make the case to your charter to use your funds for Meraki School.

    We are happy to support you in that process, so feel free to reach out to us about it. Some of the Charter Schools we have heard people like to use include TeachNW, OpenEd, and Fossil.

    Folks who qualify can also use The Children’s Scholarship Fund for our school. This is only available for grades K-8. You can apply for that here.

Ready to enroll in the school?

Admission Application

Enrichment Program

Enrollment and Scholarships still open for 2026-2027 school year

  • Our 1-2 day enrichment program is an opportunity for homeschoolers, unschoolers and online schoolers to join our community part-time, as supplement to their education plan at home or online. The enrichment program is created with youth in mind, for youth who can’t be fully enrolled but would like a community space to connect through shared interests, take classes, attend clubs, and engage with other young people.

    Enrichment students are not considered full time students and are expected to be enrolled as homeschoolers with the state or in a online program.

    Enrichment students will not have access to one-on-one mentors, clerkships, or to the full-time private school enrollment.

  • Enrichment Program: Two days/week: $5200 a year ($520 over ten months)

    Enrichment Program: One day/week: $2600 a year ($260/month over ten months.)

    Learn more about mutual aid tuition.

  • In order for our Enrichment participants to fully experience and engage with our culture we ask that they commit to attending on Thursday so they can attend the general assembly (the decision-making meeting). They are free to choose between squad day or another indoor day.

    We do have flexibility on Thursday attendance with a few caveats. Without attending on Thursdays, the child will miss out on attending our decision-making meeting, General Assembly, which is where we make school agreements (rules), and address school-wide conflicts and needs. If that is OK for your child, then it's fine to miss Thursdays. However, there can occasionally be a big school conflict that involves all the children or specific children that we need to discuss together in community at the Assembly, and we would ask that your child do their best to attend on a Thursday on occasion if they are asked to.

    Our hours are:

    9am- 3pm Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday

    11am-3pm Wednesday for Flying Squad Day

Ready to enroll in the Enrichment Program?

Admission Application