LearningSpring Launches School Choice Management Platform with Marketplace to Bridge Gap Between Education Freedom Policies and State Implementation

Platform provides national infrastructure needed for family search and discovery, ESA and voucher processing, and implementation of tax credit scholarship programs

DENVER, April 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As states across the U.S. pass education freedom policies at a record pace, LearningSpring today announced its launch as the first end-to-end school choice management platform. Co-founded by Cecilia Retelle Zywicki and Alex Paul, the company aims to empower families to discover and access their best-fit learning options. With 34 states offering a form of school choice, and 25 states thus far opting in to the Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, LearningSpring provides the critical infrastructure required to turn complex school choice laws into functional, auditable programs for states, and transparent programs for schools and families.

According to a June 2025 survey of parents, of the 47 million families who started a school choice decision, 63 percent did not move forward with selecting a new school. Parents cited reasons for staying at their current schools, including lack of clarity on funding and eligibility for school and associated costs, limited visibility into local school options and general lack of confidence in making "the right choice" for their child.

"School choice policies are rolling out across states faster than the infrastructure needed to implement them," said Cecilia Retelle Zywicki, co-founder and CEO of LearningSpring. "While these policies are intended to expand options for families, the reality for many has been a landscape of confusion, which can open the door to misuse of funds. LearningSpring is closing this infrastructure gap by setting a new standard for school choice management. By partnering with states, schools, scholarship granting organizations (SGOs) and education providers, we deliver clarity for families, rigorous accountability and fraud prevention for states, and auditable programs for policymakers."

Key features of the platform include:

• School Choice Marketplace: A modern discovery tool for families to browse and compare schools across public, charter, private, microschool, homeschool co-ops and hybrid models.
• Education Freedom Wallet™: A secure, streamlined payment system for families to apply for and receive funds through ESA, scholarship and voucher programs, while providing states with real-time oversight of dollars spent.
• Eligibility ChoiceChecker™: A proprietary tool that streamlines the complicated scholarship application process, showing families which programs they qualify for based on federal and state-level criteria.
• Unified Federal Tax Credit Management: Central infrastructure for states and SGOs to support state-wide compliance, fraud prevention and improve families' experience.
• Accountability Dashboard for States: Real-time reporting to track and manage applications and funds disbursements, while providing auditable reporting and fiscal integrity alerts.

Led by CEO and co-founder Cecilia Retelle Zywicki and co-founder Alex Paul, LearningSpring's leadership team includes operators with extensive experience scaling category-defining EdTech, FinTech and SaaS platforms in public, private equity and venture-backed competitive markets. Sarah Jordan (Chief Marketing Officer), David Bond (Head of Product), Ashley Norris (Head of Partnerships) and Chris Cunningham (VP of Engineering) bring a track record of transformational growth across categories, including marketplaces, payments, regulatory compliance, product-led growth, enterprise sales and parent-first product design.

LearningSpring is now live and available for states, families and schools to explore at learningspring.com. Family school choice accounts are free, and schools can claim and update profiles at no cost. Enhanced profiles with custom photos, videos, program details and enrollment links are available in upgraded tiers. Coming soon, education providers, vendors and SGOs will have the ability to create and manage profiles to increase family purchases, enrollments, applications and donations.

About LearningSpring
LearningSpring is The School Choice Management Platform that helps states, schools, families, SGOs and providers run modern education freedom programs with clarity and accountability. It unifies school discovery, eligibility, applications, payments and compliance, enabling partners to operate ESA, voucher and tax credit scholarship programs at scale on a single platform. LearningSpring's solutions, including the School Choice Marketplace, Education Freedom Wallet^™, Federal Tax Credit Management and complete School Choice Management for States, help families find their best-fit learning options, help schools and SGOs steward scholarships responsibly, and help states deliver transparent, auditable programs. Create a free family account, claim a school profile, and learn more at https://learningspring.com.

Contact
Emily Oakes
FINN Partners
[email protected]

SOURCE LearningSpring