School choice has been shaking up K-12 education for years now, but what about Pre-K? Charters and vouchers have created a paradigm shift in the way we view educational options, but the Pre-K landscape hasn’t seen a significant disruption in years. A new startup wants to change that.
Wonderschool is an online platform that has the potential to dramatically shift the Pre-K scene. The startup is similar to Airbnb. Essentially, Wonderschool helps teachers and parents start their own licensed in-home preschool and childcare facilities. Wonderschool helps with all of the necessary paperwork, and setup.
The San-Francisco based startup essentially aims to remove the barriers to opening an in-home Pre-K and by extension, expand access to early childhood education as there are currently not enough spots to fill the demand.
Co-founder and CEO Chris Bennett says he just wants to create a solution that helps all parties.
Finding good childcare has become one of the most difficult experiences for families. I’ve seen parents who are making a livable wage in urban cities like San Francisco and New York still struggle to find and afford quality childcare… We wanted to deliver a solution for parents that also had the potential to create jobs and empower the caregiver — that’s Wonderschool. – Tech Crunch
Right now the biggest criticism of Wonderschool is the fact that childcare and pre-k, even through the online platform, is prohibitively expensive. In theory, a larger number of spots will gradually drop the price of childcare overall.
Wonderschool has already raised over $20 million in funding.