News and Events
Friday Feature Blog Post
The CATO Institute featured Open Sky Education in it's Friday Feature on February 17, 2023.
Soaring Education Services Award
The VELA Fund announced at the end of January that Soaring Education Services would be awarded $250,000.
Open Sky Education - Semifinalist for $1 million Yass Prize
Congratulations to all of the The Yass Prize Finalists and the $1 Million award winner Arizona Autism Charter School!
We were incredibly honored to be recognized as a Yass Prize Semifinalist! Thank you to the The Yass Prize for the award and for bringing national attention to our innovative work in Christian education! We can’t wait to continue to grow our efforts and share our mission with communities and families across the country!
The Yass Prize is a competition powered by the Center for Education Reform that highlights education providers that strive to offer education that is: Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless (STOP). As a Quarterfinalist and then a Semifinalist of the Yass Prize, Open Sky Education will received financial awards to support Soaring Education Services’ mission to grow access to Christian education nationally through Christian microschools.
“We are grateful for the national attention this brings to the exceptional work of our team at Soaring Education Services led by Jack Preus,” said CEO of Open Sky Education, Dr. Andrew Neumann. “It is with the partnership and support of groups like the Yass Foundation that we can continue to scale
new forms of Christian education that are accessible and affordable to all.”
With more than 2,700 applications for the Yass Prize, the quarterfinalists represent the top 64 “big ideas” for 2022. The quarterfinalists are from 33 states, the District of Columbia, and groups serving the entire nation. They include schools with one location and some with multiple and represent eight different kinds of education providers. Together they serve tens of thousands of students in transformational and outstanding ways.
“We are honored that our innovative education reform efforts have been recognized on a national level,” said National Director of Soaring Education Services, Dr. Jack Preus. “The Yass Prize would help us continue to fulfill our mission of increasing access to Christian education by supporting the creation of more microschools and learning pods across our nation. ”
Soaring Education Services’ application for the Yass Prize included a proposal to launch Christian microschools. The proposal highlighted a strategy to expand in Arizona in light of the state’s new legislation that established the nation’s first universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA)
program.
This program provides public dollars for families for tuition or other qualified expenses. All 1.1 million students in Arizona are eligible to receive this funding. Soaring Education Services aims to create a model to allow families in Arizona to leverage this new school choice initiative to provide a Christian education for their children.
Emerging Opportunities in Education
December - Open Sky Education CEO, Andrew Neumann, recently sat down with Dr. Lynn Swaner of Association of Christian Schools International to discuss the emerging opportunities in the field of Christian Education. Tune into the podcast.
EAGLE College Prep Schools participate in state-wide program
June 6 - ABC 15 in Phoenix featured EAGLE College Prep Maryvale's summer school program
School Choice in Missouri Funding Expanded
This summer, a new program launched - MOScholars - which provides scholarships to families interested in private education.
Supreme Court Ruling
This summer, the US Supreme Court ruled on a case in Maine which challenges state policies regarding education-related funding. Read more.