TriPoint Schools
San Antonio, TX
TriPoint brings public and private education structures together to create tuition-free public microschools — a scalable “third way” for families who want something smaller, more personal and more responsive than a traditional school.
About
TriPoint’s community-designed microschools were built by listening to parents and teachers who wanted schools that were smaller, safer, more personalized and rooted in real-world experience. Students learn in small mixed-age pods, with academics connected to the arts, service and experiences beyond the classroom. Every student takes art every day, teachers know children by name, story and stretch goal, and flexible schedules allow school to fit around apprenticeships, jobs and family life. Across its two San Antonio campuses, more than half of students are considered at-risk, yet they rank in the top quartile for growth in math and reading among Texas peers.
Their Story
Founder Doug Dawson started with a problem hiding in plain sight: families wanted smaller, more personal schools, while communities already had school buildings, public funding streams and education organizations with excess capacity. Instead of choosing between public and private education, he began asking whether the best pieces of both could be brought together. TriPoint grew from that idea — a “third way” that uses partnerships rather than institutional boundaries to create more options for families. Its first schools in San Antonio demonstrated that a small-school model could operate within existing public infrastructure and grow without requiring an entirely new system around it.
Douglas Dawson
CEO
“I’m here because of my mother. As a single mom without the resources, she had to sell most of what we owned so my brothers and I could attend a small private school. TriPoint is my stubborn pursuit of redefining what is possible within the system. And because my family’s school choice came at a financial cost, I committed to making TriPoint free for every family.”
1
Why they stand out
TriPoint stands out because the real innovation is underneath the school itself. It brings public and private education structures together, using charter partnerships, Texas Education Freedom Accounts and underused facilities to create a model that can grow without continually buying buildings or inventing new funding systems. Two charter partners are already in place, and students funded through different pathways sit side by side in the same classrooms. It is a practical demonstration of what can happen when entrepreneurs stop asking which system a school belongs to and start asking what combination of systems can work best for families.
2
How they STOP for education
TriPoint is especially Sustainable because sustainability is engineered into the model: recurring public funding, charter partnerships, existing facilities and lean operations support the schools as enrollment grows.
It is Transformational in deliberately blending structures that education traditionally keeps separate.
Its small, personalized learning environments make the experience Outstanding, while its willingness to cross institutional boundaries and build a “third way” makes it distinctly Permissionless.
3
Winning their award
The $500,000 finalist award will help TriPoint accelerate an already ambitious expansion strategy — growing from its San Antonio base toward its “30×30” vision of approximately 30 campuses and 3,000 students by 2030. The investment can help enroll students already waiting, strengthen new campus launches and turn TriPoint’s public-private architecture into a repeatable model for many more Texas families.
