ProPublica registered a fake school with $45 and got approved for public money in Arkansas. Ten minutes. Two documents. No background check, no teaching credentials, no financial proof, no enrollment caps. They named a tuition amount that matched the exact voucher payout per student and asked the state if that was legal. The Education Department employee didn't reject them. He helped them figure out how to get the money. West Virginia doesn't even pretend to oversee "microschools" anymore. You can file on notebook paper. The state says it doesn't approve or deny anyone for any reason, including whether the owner is qualified to teach or run a school. Unlimited students by law. Arkansas went from under 100 private schools to over 220 since vouchers started, plus 143 microschools approved this year alone. This isn't deregulation. This is a system designed to funnel public education dollars into unaccountable private hands with zero friction. The reporters never took money and never enrolled a kid. Nothing would have stopped them if they had.