The co-op preschool website checklist (built from 20 PCPI member sites)

Co-op preschool websites have a problem no generic "preschool website" article addresses. You're selling two things at once.

You're selling the preschool — what kids do, who teaches, what tuition is. And you're selling the co-op — what parents do, how much time it takes, whether they're ready for the commitment. Generic preschool templates handle the first job and ignore the second. That's why so many co-op sites either bury the participation requirement (and families enroll, then quit in week 3) or front-load it so heavily that the curriculum disappears.

This checklist is what we built after auditing 20 cooperative preschool websites in PCPI's directory and regional chapter listings. Tuned for the co-op model specifically.

The 12 pages every co-op site needs

1. Homepage — answers "what kind of preschool is this?" in five seconds, including the co-op part.
2. Our co-op / how the co-op works — what families actually commit to, in hours.
3. Classes / programs — by age group, with day count and times.
4. Curriculum / approach — philosophy, sample day, what kids do.
5. Teachers — bios and photos of the lead teachers.
6. Tuition + parent fees — both the dollar tuition and the time commitment.
7. Parent jobs — the actual list of co-op jobs and what they involve.
8. Visit / tour — when tours happen and how to book.
9. Enrollment / registration — process, timeline, what's required.
10. Calendar — current year, with key dates.
11. FAQ — the 8–12 questions every prospective family asks.
12. Contact — registrar email, phone, location, hours.

That's the floor. Fewer than that and prospective families are emailing your registrar (a volunteer) with questions your site should already answer. That costs real hours every week.

What the good co-op sites do differently

1. They name the parent commitment in hours, not vibes

Bad: "Co-op preschool means parents are actively involved in their child's education."
Good: "Each enrolled family works in the classroom 1 day every 6–8 weeks, attends a monthly parent meeting (~90 minutes), serves on a committee (~3 hours/month), and contributes to two annual fundraisers."

The bad version sounds nice and tells you nothing. The good version is scary specific — and that's exactly why it's better. Families who can't or won't do that self-select out before they enroll. The families who say yes are the families who stay.

2. They have a "Parent jobs" page with the actual list

Every co-op has 8–25 standing jobs. Laundry, snack, library, fundraising chair, registrar, treasurer, equipment, sub coordinator. Publish the list. A one-paragraph description per job is enough. Bonus: the page doubles as your internal catalog you assign from each fall.

3. They publish tuition in dollars

Most common mistake in our audit: 11 of 20 sites had no published tuition. Just "contact registrar for current tuition." This filters out exactly the families you want — the ones who do their homework before reaching out. Publish the number. If it varies by program, publish the range. Most co-op preschools land between $1,800 and $9,000 a year depending on geography and days per week. There's no competitive secret to protect.

4. They show photos that include adults

Generic preschool sites show kids only. Co-op sites should show what the co-op actually looks like — parents in the classroom, parents at meetings, parents at work parties. That's the differentiated product. Sell it.

5. They have an active calendar

An empty or stale events calendar is the #1 trust killer on co-op websites. If the only events listed are from spring 2024, prospective families assume the school is winding down. Three sites in our audit had no event newer than 2023. (One of those three is, in fact, still operating. They just don't update the calendar.)

The 8 questions every co-op site should answer in the FAQ

These came up on at least 12 of the 20 sites we audited. Even if you have a "contact us with questions" link, publishing answers cuts your registrar's email volume by 30–50%.

1. What's the difference between a co-op preschool and a regular preschool?
2. What does "parent participation" actually require — how often, how much time?
3. What if I work full-time and can't do classroom days?
4. How much is tuition, and is there financial aid?
5. What ages do you accept, and are children grouped by age?
6. What's your enrollment timeline — when do I need to apply?
7. What's the parent education component (if you're a parent-ed program)?
8. How do I sign up for a tour or visit?

What the broken co-op sites were missing

• SSL certificate. 4 of 20 sites showed "Not Secure" warnings or had mixed-content issues. Parents on iPhones see scary browser warnings and bounce.
• Working mobile layout. 6 of 20 had at least one page that broke on phones — navigation overlapping content, images cropped, forms unusable.
• Updated calendar. 9 of 20 had no events newer than 6 months.
• Click-to-call phone number. Almost none. The phone number was text-only or missing.
• Tour booking flow. 13 of 20 said "email the registrar to book a tour" instead of a one-click signup form.
• Photo of the building. Surprisingly common omission. Co-ops are place-based. Show the place.
• State licensing info. If you're a licensed preschool, link to your license. Real trust signal.

What works for finding new families (the SEO part)

Co-op preschools are extremely hyperlocal. You're not competing for "best preschool in [city]." You're competing for "cooperative preschool [neighborhood]" and parent word-of-mouth in two surrounding zip codes. The SEO playbook is correspondingly small.

1. Claim and verify your Google Business Profile. Free, 20 minutes, makes you show up when someone searches your school name or "preschool near me."
2. Put your neighborhood name in your page titles and at least one H1. "Cedarbrook Co-op Preschool | Wallingford, Seattle" beats "Welcome to Our Preschool."
3. Get listed on PCPI and your regional cooperative preschool chapter (in WA: North Seattle College Parent-Ed Co-ops; in CA: California Center for Cooperative Development).
4. Ask current families to leave Google reviews. Three honest 5-star reviews from current parents do more for enrollment than three months of marketing.
5. Publish a "what is a co-op preschool" page. Some prospective families don't know what they're searching for yet. Show up when they Google the concept.

If you're a board volunteer reading this and feeling overwhelmed

Here's the pattern we see over and over. A parent who's a designer or developer joins the co-op, builds the site, runs it for 2–4 years, then ages out when their kid graduates. The site freezes. The next "tech-comfortable" parent inherits a system they didn't build and don't fully understand. They patch what they can. The site degrades. Six years in, the board pays $4,000 for a rebuild. The cycle restarts.

This is structural, not personal. The fix isn't "find a better volunteer." It's "put the website on the org's books like the rent." Co-ops with sustainable websites either have a board-funded webmaster line item ($60–$200 a month) or a managed service. The DIY-forever model doesn't work over a 10-year window.

Not a sales pitch for our service specifically — there are several good options at that price point (Wired Impact, Morweb, ours, individual freelancers). Pick one. Fund it like infrastructure. Stop relying on the next tech-savvy parent to walk through the door.