What "quarterly" means in CohortLedger
State ESA programs disburse on a quarterly schedule. CohortLedger groups your invoicing on the same cadence so the timing lines up. Each quarter has a funding window (the two-week period when state platforms release funds) and a billing period that covers the months of instruction in that quarter.
The seeded demo is set in Q1 2026-27, Texas TEFA, with a funding window of October 15 to October 30, 2026. Your real school year may differ — set the school year and quarter windows in state setup.
1. Generate the batch
From the sidebar, click Billing. The quarterly invoice panel at the top shows the current quarter, the expected ESA total, the expected out-of-pocket total, and a button to generate the batch. Click Generate Q1 invoice batch (or the current quarter label).
CohortLedger creates one invoice per family, calculating each student’s quarter share as annualTuition / 4 for the school year, then splitting that share into the ESA-funded portion and the out-of-pocket remainder.
2. Review the splits
Each invoice row shows the family name, the students included, the ESA program for each, the expected ESA portion, the out-of-pocket portion, the status pill, and the quarterly deadline. Statuses are:
- Received early — ESA money landed before the window opened
- Received mid — ESA money landed in the normal window
- Pending late — past the window, no ESA money yet
- Partial — ESA money was less than expected
- OOP only — out-of-pocket family, no ESA
3. Send invoices to families
Use the Send to all button to email every invoice in the batch at once, or send one at a time from each row. The email includes the invoice PDF as an attachment and a payment link for the out-of-pocket portion.
4. Reconcile deposits as they land
State platform deposits show up in Billing → Reconcile. CohortLedger auto-matches deposits by amount and reference. When a deposit is more than $25 off the expected amount, it surfaces as a variance with an inline note like "Odyssey processing fee shorted Castillo TEFA by $24". You raise a ticket with the platform and mark it once resolved.
5. Watch the at-risk banner
If an overdue compliance task could block the next quarter’s disbursement (e.g. an unfinished Arizona ESA quarterly attendance report), Billing shows a red top banner: "$X across N invoices may be held by state platforms until overdue compliance work clears." Clear the compliance work and the banner disappears.
Next
With invoices sent, the daily work is marking attendance. When the quarter wraps, export the audit trail for your state reviewer.