When Uber meets education: Tech entrepreneurs hope to empower homeschoolers, liberate millions from public schools

Could an Uber-like app help thousands of homeschool moms enter the workforce as tutors and liberate millions of students from the public school system?

That’s the future, according to Sam Gallucci, founder of Revive Academies, which is looking to scale its model of connecting homeschool teachers and students.

Gallucci and Neil Marman, two tech entrepreneurs from California, are pioneering an app for Revive which would empower parents and homeschool “tutor-coaches” to form new learning communities. Their goal is to liberate 25 million children from government schools – a reference to the number of children nationwide in single-parent homes or where both parents work. 

“Our target is children who have only one parent or where both parents work,” said Gallucci, a pastor who also ran for governor during California’s recall election in 2021. “These families have never thought of homeschooling or couldn’t see a way where they could do it. But our app makes it possible.” 

Gallucci’s inspiration came in reaction to California passing the Healthy Youth Act in 2019, a 10-year blueprint to “fully integrate ‘woke ideology’ top to bottom, side to side” into all public schools by 2029. 

He ran for governor, and, during his run, encountered various “mama bear” groups of women who opposed vaccine mandates as well as the progressive liberal ideology. They were “desperate” to get out of public schools but lacked options because of time or finances. 

That activated Gallucci’s problem-solving gene. 

“Not being in the education industry or space but being a tech pioneer and entrepreneur, I took a very analytical business and non-emotional approach,” he told The Lion. “I looked at every impossibility, and that’s where you find God.” 

Gallucci was getting in an Uber one day when he thought about how the company had “revolutionized” transportation, created an entirely new workforce and succeeded in ways naysayers said it wouldn’t. Then he thought, why couldn’t he do the same with education? 

That led him to found Revive Academies in Oxnard, California, near Los Angeles, a cooperative approach to homeschooling that pairs parents with experienced homeschool educators. The model has proven successful over the last two years, and now he and Marman are raising funds to market and roll out their app this year. 

The vision is to create an entirely new workforce of homeschool moms, serve underserved populations and spur a massive public school exit. 

“It’s time to rescue a generation of children,” Gallucci says, adding that the Lord told him, “‘I want you to lead an effort to rescue 25 million children from public school.’” 

The app has big potential and some enticing numbers, once it is rolled out. Here’s how it works: 

Current or former homeschool parents register as tutor-coaches. Once approved they acquire space in a church where they can offer their services for a fee based on their availability, choosing one or more days a week for instruction. 

Using the app, parents can find a local coach or coaches for their students. The tutor-coaches can also help parents remotely during the days the children are at home. 

Parents pay $25 per day to the coach, which adds up to $2,700 to $4,500 annually, depending on the number of days per week the child attends. Gallucci said most parents in the pilot program have chosen two or three days per week, although some have opted for all five. The pilot is currently for grades K-8, which would mirror the rollout, with grades 9-12 being added eventually. 

Coaches earn $20 per student per day, boosting incomes for teachers that can handle large classes and teach multiple days a week. 

“A coach can make $90,000 per year,” Gallucci says, based on teaching 25 students five days per week for a 36-week school year. “Imagine a homeschool mom making $90,000 per year, and families paying between $2,700 and $4,500 to homeschool their kid. This makes homeschooling possible and profitable. It’s a win-win.” 

Churches would gain rental income from the coaches and provide an additional layer of legal protection for the school. They would also gain access to more families that might attend the church or need help with spiritual or physical needs. 

“Getting the church involved gets the community involved,” Gallucci says. “The fact that it’s meeting at a church also adds a level of comfort and stability.” 

Michael King of the Massachusetts Family Institute was excited for the app after hearing about it at a conference in December hosted by Herzog Foundation for pastors and educators. 

“This could really explode the homeschool world and give mama bears an opportunity to make some money as proctors and tutors,” King told The Lion. “I think it really solves a lot of the problems and barriers that parents are having getting into the homeschooling space.” 

With one report showing that 30% of American kids could be homeschooled by 2030, King and Gallucci agree the time is now to build the infrastructure to handle millions of students from the public school system. 

“We absolutely are confident we have something that can change the trajectory and rescue these children that are in these jail cells they call public schools,” Gallucci says.