When it comes to the current state of education, there is a lot to be upset about. Widespread education disruption over the past 30 months has led to significant learning loss among K-12 students and a growing youth mental health crisis.
But there are some bright spots. The education turmoil since 2020 has prompted more parents to pay attention to what is happening in their children’s classrooms. Many of them feel a renewed sense of ownership over their children’s education and are increasingly seeking or starting microschools, learning pods, hybrid schools, homeschooling collaboratives, and other innovative educational models. Teachers have been similarly empowered to exit the classroom and create small co-learning communities or schooling alternatives.
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That’s what Jill Perez did. A mother of four children who began her career as a public school teacher in New Jersey more than 20 years ago, Perez pulled her children out of school in 2020 and formed a “pandemic pod” with other local families to maintain social and academic enrichment. Her pod was so successful that she evolved it into a microschool, a small, multi-age learning community, in leased commercial space last fall, opening with 45 students. Students in her program, called Tranquil Teachings Learning Center, are legally recognized as homeschoolers and can attend the drop-off program part-time or full-time, depending on their family’s needs and preferences. She also recruited several teachers from New York City public schools to work in her microschool. These educators were burnt out from two years of classroom commotion and were happy to trade a higher salary for more flexibility, autonomy, and creative expression.
“Often in the public school setting, students and teachers feel like second-class citizens because education is becoming less and less human,” said Perez. “At Tranquil Teachings, we have a culture where everyone feels valued, and this mutual respect also drives a desire for high performance.”
Perez’s program continues to flourish, and she is now in the process of relocating to a nearby property she purchased to accommodate expansion. As she has grown her microschool to meet local parent demand for new learning options, she has encountered various obstacles, including local zoning issues that delayed her entry into the new location.
Easing zoning restrictions is one of seven recommendations listed in a new State Policy Network report for state and local policymakers — reforms that make it easier for education entrepreneurs like Perez to start and scale their businesses. Entrepreneurship is tough in any sector, but education entrepreneurs often confront greater regulatory hurdles and more obstacles to innovation than founders in other sectors. Even the threat of regulation prevents some education entrepreneurs from launching a new learning program or expanding a successful program into certain states. Reducing these regulatory barriers to entry and growth can encourage more education entrepreneurs to build new learning models and enable more families to access a wider variety of education options.
This is especially important now as more states introduce or expand school choice policies, such as Education Savings Accounts, that enable education funding to follow students. Parents may have greater access to education funding, but there can be a gap between their desire for new learning options and the current supply of those options. When state-specific regulatory burdens are lessened, education entrepreneurs will be encouraged to open a new microschool, hybrid school, or similar learning program in their local communities. Out-of-state education entrepreneurs who have built popular educational programs will be similarly enticed to bring their services to a state that embraces such entrepreneurship.
While there is much to be distressed about regarding the educational consequences of the COVID response, there is also space for optimism. More parents are emboldened to demand more and better education options for their children. More entrepreneurial educators are building creative K-12 learning solutions. And more state policymakers are championing school choice policies that provide families with greater access to the right educational environment for their children. This combination of parent demand, entrepreneurship, and public policy will lead to the growth of more decentralized, bottom-up education options that will better serve families for years to come.
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Kerry McDonald is an Education Policy Fellow at State Policy Network, and Senior Education Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education. She is the author of the book, Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. Follow her on Twitter @Kerry_edu
