Open Sky Education - Semifinalist for $1 Million Education Reform Yass Prize

Open Sky Education - Semifinalist for $1 Million Education Reform Yass Prize  

Open Sky Education and its newest division Soaring Education Services  advance to the next stage of the Yass Competition. 

WAUKESHA - Open Sky Education advanced as a semifinalist for the annual $1 million Yass  Prize to accelerate the development of its newest division, Soaring Education Services. The  Yass Prize is a competition overseen by the Center for Education Reform spotlighting education  providers who aspire to deliver education that is: Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding,  and Permissionless (STOP). As a semifinalist of the Yass Prize, Open Sky Education will  receive a $200,000 award and will take part in a four-week hybrid accelerator program, in  addition to earning a chance to compete for the grand prize.  

The money awarded to Open Sky Education will fund Soaring Education Services’ mission to  expand access to Christian education nationally via Christian microschools.  

“We are so excited that the outstanding work of our team at Soaring Education Services led by  Jack Preus is receiving national recognition,” said CEO of Open Sky Education, Andrew  Neumann. “It is with the partnership and support of groups like the Yass Foundation for  Education 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 semifinalists represent the top 32 “big  ideas” for 2022. 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 to have our innovative education reform efforts recognized and to be afforded  the opportunity to showcase our work on a national stage,” said National Director of Soaring  Education Services, Dr. Preus. “The Yass Prize would assist us to continue to accomplish our  mission of expanding access to Christian education by supporting the creation of more  microschools and learning pods across our nation.”  

According to the Yass Prize release, “At the end of the accelerator process, the final seven (7)  winners will be selected at a special event, held in partnership with Forbes Media, on December 

14 in New York City. The remaining six finalists will each receive a $250,000 STOP Award.”  Soaring Education Services’ application for the Yass Prize included a proposal to launch  Christian microschools. The proposal underlined an approach 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.  

The final seven winners will be announced on December 14 in New York City. 

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