Terms of service

Draft version 2026-11-04. Not yet in effect.

1. Who we are and who may hold an account
2. What the subscription includes
3. Seats, grades and billing periods
4. The free trial and the enrollment charge
5. Prices, founding terms and price changes
6. Cancellation and refunds
7. Florida scholarship purchases
8. Acceptable use
9. Children and parental consent
10. The AI tutor and human oversight
11. Content and licenses
12. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
13. Governing law and disputes
14. Changes and contact

1. Who we are and who may hold an account

Rushmore Academy (the school, we, us) provides an online program for families educating their children at home under Florida’s home education law. We are not a registered private school, we are not accredited, and we are not a scholarship funding organization. The parent remains the teacher of record and directs the instruction.

An account may be opened only by an adult (18 or older) who is the parent or legal guardian of every student added to it. You sign in with a one-time code sent to your email; there is no password. You are responsible for keeping that email account secure and for everything done under your family account.

Students never hold accounts of their own with the school. A student uses a profile inside the family account, opened with a PIN the parent sets or, at the parent’s choice, with an email address the parent links to the profile.

2. What the subscription includes

A subscription gives each enrolled student a daily plan, interactive lessons and printable workbook pages, practice and spaced review, placement diagnostics, the AI tutor described in section 10, the household chores module, the school paper, and the records and exports that support Florida home education compliance (activity log, work samples, portfolio export, annual evaluation records pack). The exact contents differ by school (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) and are listed on the plans page.

The subscription does not include the annual evaluation itself, any accreditation, diploma or transcript recognised by a third party, live classes, or legal, tax or scholarship advice. Links to outside resources are provided under those resources’ own terms.

3. Seats, grades and billing periods

Each student is one seat on one family subscription, priced by the student’s grade band: Grammar School (kindergarten to grade 5), Logic School (grades 6 to 8), Rhetoric School (grades 9 to 12). A family may hold up to eight seats. Students fill seats in the order they were added; a student beyond the paid seats cannot open lessons until a seat is added.

Billing is monthly or annual, chosen at checkout and changeable from the billing page. A change of grade changes the price at the next renewal, never in the middle of a paid period. Seats can be added or removed from the billing page; Stripe prorates an added seat and a removed seat takes effect at the end of the period.

4. The free trial and the enrollment charge

A new family’s first subscription begins with a free trial of the length shown at checkout (planned: 14 days). A payment method is required to start the trial. If you cancel before the trial ends, the subscription is not charged.

At checkout a one-time enrollment charge (planned: one dollar) is taken. It is a real card transaction that the account holder is notified of, which is one of the methods the federal children’s privacy rule (COPPA, 16 CFR 312.5) allows for verifying that the person consenting on behalf of a child under 13 is the parent. The enrollment charge is refunded on request.

5. Prices, founding terms and price changes

Prices are those shown on the plans page at the time of checkout and on each invoice. Any family discount applies to the whole subscription while two or more seats are active. A founding families rate, if offered, is locked for as long as that family keeps an active subscription, replaces the family discount, and never stacks with another discount; its other conditions are stated on the plans page when it is live.

We may change prices with at least 30 days’ notice by email to the account holder; a change takes effect at the next renewal after the notice period. Taxes, if any apply, are shown at checkout.

6. Cancellation and refunds

You may cancel at any time from the billing page. A monthly subscription continues to the end of the paid month and is not refunded in part. An annual subscription is refunded in full if cancelled within 30 days of the first annual charge; after that it continues to the end of the paid year. Full details are in the refund policy, which forms part of these terms.

7. Florida scholarship purchases

Where a Florida scholarship program (for example PEP or FES through a scholarship funding organization) pays for a subscription, program rules govern: refunds of scholarship money go back to the scholarship organization and never to the parent, and the school gives no rebates, credits or referral rewards to scholarship families. Whether a Rushmore subscription is an eligible expense is decided by the program, not by us; we state only what we have verified and nothing on our site is a promise of eligibility.

8. Acceptable use

• One family per account; profiles are for the students named on the account only.
• Lesson content, workbook pages, practice items and the tutor are for your family’s own home education and may not be copied, resold or shared outside it.
• No attempt to reach another family’s data, to bypass the sign-in, or to interfere with the service.
• The school paper has its own standards; a parent approves everything a student publishes.

We may suspend an account that breaks these rules after notice, except where immediate suspension is needed to protect children or the service.

9. Children and parental consent

Before any student profile is used, the parent reads our direct notice and consents to the collection described in the privacy notice. For a student under 13 the enrollment charge in section 4 completes that consent. The parent may review, export and delete every student’s data and may withdraw consent at any time, which ends the student’s use of the service. We collect from a student only an opaque id, a grade, an optional first name or nickname chosen by the parent, a PIN hash, and learning activity; never a full name, birthdate, address, photograph or biometric.

10. The AI tutor and human oversight

Lessons include a tutor driven by a large language model operated by a third-party provider. It explains, asks questions, checks practice and suggests what comes next. It can be wrong. It does not grade written work unless the parent turns that on, it does not publish anything, and it never receives a student’s name or profile: only the lesson text and the student’s answers, tied to an opaque id. A parent is in charge of every grade and may turn the tutor off for a student. Tutor conversations are logged for the parent to read and for the school’s human review of the tutor’s quality.

11. Content and licenses

The school’s lessons, plans, practice bank, artwork and software are owned by the school or used under license. Public-domain and open-licensed works are credited on the credits page. You receive a personal, non-transferable license to use the content for your family’s home education while subscribed. Student work remains the family’s; the school keeps copies only as part of the records described in the privacy notice.

12. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

The service is provided as it is. We do not promise any educational outcome, test score, placement, scholarship, credit or admission. To the extent Florida law allows, our liability to you for any claim arising from the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida. The parties will try to resolve any dispute by talking first; a dispute that cannot be resolved that way is brought in the state or federal courts located in Florida.

14. Changes and contact

We may update these terms. Material changes are announced by email to the account holder at least 30 days before they take effect, and the version and date at the top of this page change. Continuing to use the service after that date is acceptance of the new terms.

Operator: Rushmore Academy, Florida. Contact details (postal address, telephone and email) will be added here before these terms take effect; the privacy notice requires them too.

See also the privacy notice and the refund policy.