Why this product exists, who it's for, and the lines we will not cross.
Independent microschool operators are running schools and a back office at the same time. They opened a one-room school because they wanted to teach. They learned, the hard way, that the part of the job nobody warned them about is the part that decides whether their families get the money they are owed and whether the school is still open at the end of the year.
The ESA money flow is where most of those hours and dollars go. Quarterly invoicing has to match how a state ESA program actually pays. Approved-vendor status has to be in place before any money flows. Per-state reporting deadlines, if missed, delay or block the next disbursement. Families are partly ESA-funded and partly out of pocket. Some states require attendance for eligibility. Today this lives in a spreadsheet, a chat thread, and a payment portal in another tab.
CohortLedger is the back office for that work. We invoice, we track, we document. We never touch the money.
You opened a school. Then the paperwork opened back. Six different jobs, all of them part-time, all of them due at the same time.
Funds typically arrive between the 15th and 30th of the first month of each quarter, then take 5 to 10 business days to settle. One late report can push that into next quarter.
Invoices have to match how the state actually pays, four times a year, not monthly.
Before any money flows, you have to be registered and approved in your state's system.
Miss one and your next disbursement is delayed, held back, or blocked entirely.
Some are partly ESA-funded and partly out of pocket. The math is not on the form.
Some states require it for ESA. The portal will not remind you, and it does not forgive.
Today this lives across a spreadsheet, a chat thread, and a payment portal in another tab.
Three rules we will not break. The product is independent, it is shaped around the money flow, and it ships per-state from day one.
Software for the microschool you run, not a network you join. No revenue share. No required programming. No ranking.
§Your name on the door, your tuition, your families.
Quarterly invoicing that matches how ESA actually pays. Received, pending, partial, and out-of-pocket, tracked for every family, every state.
§Real awards: $5,243 LA GATOR. $6,166 OH K-8. $7,431 AZ ESA. $15,253 LA SwD.
Per-state vendor registration, reporting deadlines, and attendance requirements, with alerts that arrive before the deadline does.
§AZ VendorConnect. NCSEAA. FL EMA. UT Odyssey. Pre-loaded.
An operating company you can reach, a clear data posture, and dated records you can hand a state reviewer.
Incorporated in the US, terms and privacy policy published, DPA on request. A person answers email, usually the founder.
COPPA-aware by design. Encrypted in transit. No child photos stored. No advertising trackers on the dashboard. A plain-English privacy policy you can hand a parent.
Every invoice, attendance entry, and compliance check is timestamped and exportable. Hand a state reviewer a clean trail, not a screenshot of a spreadsheet.
We are software for the operator of an independent school. We are not a network they join. We are not a payment processor. We are not a certifying body. We are not an authorized administrator of any state ESA program.
We work alongside the platform their state already uses, including ClassWallet, Odyssey, Step Up, Student First, and EMA. We help operators stay organized, paid, and compliant, with dated records they can hand to a state reviewer.
CohortLedger exists because the operators we talked to were undercompensated, overstretched, and inheriting a back office that was not their job. The product they wanted is the product we are building. If you run an independent school and there is something we are missing, write to us.
