You underestimate the power of entrenched interests over municipalities, the largest of which is often zoning. Zoning regulations are fun in part because the go

You underestimate the power of entrenched interests over municipalities, the largest of which is often zoning. Zoning regulations are fun in part because the government can (and often does) make ad hoc exemptions for public schools but provides very little leeway for public schools. http://reason.org/news/show/127456.html http://reason.org/news/show/127456.html discusses a bit of the problem. But to delve a little deeper: in California, nearly every municipality of any size requires a special-use permit or conditional use permit (CUP) to build a school. There is no "school" zoning code. Almost never are such permits granted in industrial use areas, despite sometimes being locations that might have little to no risk. That means the school functionally has to get a CUP in a residential zone. Which residents often don't like because, even for a small school, it means a substantial increase in traffic. This is doubly difficult because not only does the school have to fight to receive zoning, but trivial-to-place legal challenges can lead to a huge expense. For instance, challenging zoning for environmental reasons is nearly trivial but an extended environmental impact report alone can cost millions of dollars. So there's a substantial risk involved in the launch without any option for a quick buyout. Remember, these are almost all 501(c)(3) institutions (I don't know of any that aren't, but I could imagine there are).