Justin Dent

Justin Dent is Founder and CEO of Outschool.org, a national education organization focused on building the infrastructure that helps families successfully navigate education choice programs, including Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), microgrants, and other direct-to-family funding models. Justin is widely recognized as an expert in ESA implementation and usability, with deep experience operating at the intersection of policy, product, and family experience. His work focuses on turning policy into practical systems that families can actually use. Rather than approaching school choice solely from a legislative or advocacy perspective, Justin’s work centers on the operational realities families face when navigating complex funding programs and fragmented education markets. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Justin led Outschool.org’s rapid-response scholarship initiatives, which delivered direct funding to families facing severe educational disruption. These programs enabled thousands of families to quickly access tutoring, learning pods, enrichment programs, and other educational supports at a time when traditional systems were struggling to respond. The success of this work helped shape Justin’s long-term focus on direct-to-family funding and the importance of usability, trust, and clear navigation in program design. Under Justin’s leadership, Outschool.org has since designed and operated large-scale navigation platforms, vendor discovery tools, and family engagement strategies across multiple states, including Arkansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Texas. These efforts have helped hundreds of thousands of families—many of them first-time participants in education choice programs—understand their options and successfully use education funds. In several cases, the organization’s work has helped move millions of dollars from dormant or underutilized accounts into real educational experiences for children. Justin frequently advises policymakers, state agencies, philanthropies, and education entrepreneurs on ESA program design, implementation tradeoffs, and family engagement strategies. His work and insights have been featured in national outlets including The Wall Street Journal, and he has appeared on Fox News and CNBC to discuss education choice, education innovation, and the evolving landscape of education in the United States.