I help education companies and providers become approved ESA vendors. In any state, or all of them.
Direct experience working inside microschool, homeschool, and ESA-funded education ecosystems nationwide. Whether you sell curriculum, tutoring, therapy and enrichment services, edtech, or run a school network, if you are building for the school choice market you are building on shifting ground. I help you find your footing.
Most education companies and providers don't struggle because their offering is weak. They struggle because they don't understand the school choice ecosystem.
ESA families do not buy the way traditional K-12 districts buy. There is no procurement cycle, no RFP, no committee. There are hundreds of thousands of individual decision makers reading vendor lists, asking friends in co-ops, and choosing what fits their child this month. Whether you sell a digital platform, a printed curriculum, in-person tutoring, or therapy and enrichment services, winning that market takes a different playbook.
New states launching or expanding ESA programs every year, opening entire markets almost overnight.
Billions of dollars flowing directly to families instead of through district budgets.
Microschools and hybrid learning models multiplying in every region of the country.
Companies built for institutional sales struggling with family-choice buying behavior.
This market is already bigger than most companies realize.
Every figure below is sourced from public program data, not projections.
Allocated to students through private school choice programs nationally this year, a 29% increase year over year.
Students now participating in choice programs nationwide, up 25% in a single year.
K-12 students nationally are eligible for a choice program. Most have not enrolled yet. That is the open opportunity.
States now have universal eligibility ESA programs.
The gap between 27 million eligible students and 1.3 million actually enrolled is the real opportunity. Most companies entering this space do not understand why that gap exists, or how to close it.
This is not consulting from the outside looking in.
Heather Miniello, School Choice Strategy
I have been inside the ESA and school choice ecosystem as an operator, vendor, provider, and parent for six years. That means I have onboarded vendors and providers across ESA platforms, not just operated as one. I have working relationships across Odyssey, Step Up For Students, ClassWallet, and state-run programs like Tennessee and West Virginia — built through hands-on operator work, not outside research.
Founded and operated a private school and microschool from the ground up, navigating first-year ESA fund disbursement as a registered provider.
Worked directly with state legislators, briefing them on school choice legislation as it moved through their chambers.
Coached founders nationally through vendor approval, market entry, and family-direct growth.
Hands-on experience onboarding vendors and providers across ESA platforms, not just consulting on approvals from the outside.
Existing working relationships across the major ESA platforms and program administrators — Odyssey, Step Up For Students, ClassWallet, and state-run programs — built through shared operational work.
Deep capability in market positioning, buyer persona development, and go-to-market strategy specifically for ESA-funded, family-direct buyers, not just compliance and approval navigation.
Strong working fluency with AI-driven tools for data tracking, reporting, and operational systems. I help client teams stand up and run these systems themselves rather than staying dependent on outside help.
Personally operated inside multiple ESA platforms and 18 states, not just consulted on them from the outside.
The pattern is predictable. The bottleneck is rarely the offering itself.
Vendor Approval Complexity
Each state has its own rules, categories, documentation standards, and review cycles. It applies whether you sell a digital product, a printed curriculum, or an in-person service. Reinventing the process for every application wastes months.
Marketplace & Platform Navigation
ClassWallet, Odyssey, Merit, Student First. Every ESA marketplace onboards vendors and lists offerings differently, from digital subscriptions to physical products to hourly services. Miss a step and families cannot find you.
Marketing Disconnect
Copy written for school administrators or B2B buyers does not convert homeschool parents. Whether you publish curriculum, run a tutoring center, or ship a learning app, the buying question is different.
Community Access
Homeschool co-ops and microschool networks run on trust and word of mouth. Cold outbound does not work, no matter what you sell.
A working partnership, not a slide deck.
Vendor Approval Strategy
Choose the right states, prep the right documentation, and move applications through review without the guesswork, whether you sell products, curriculum, or services.
ESA Marketplace Setup
Get listed correctly across ClassWallet, Odyssey, Merit, and other ESA marketplaces so families can find and purchase your offering, whether it is a subscription, a physical product, or a service.
Market Entry Planning
Sequence your state-by-state rollout around real demand, program readiness, and family adoption patterns.
Microschool & Homeschool Partnerships
Build relationships with the co-ops, networks, and program operators who influence how families spend.
Family Adoption Strategy
Position your offering so ESA parents understand what it is, why it fits their child, and how to use their funds on it.
Faster vendor approvals. Months compressed to weeks.
Clear positioning for family-direct markets, not just institutional buyers.
Reduced time to traction in every new ESA state you enter.
Partnership pathways with microschools, co-ops, and hybrid learning networks.
Operator-level experience across the platforms and state models that actually run ESA disbursement.
Most consultants know one platform or one state. This is knowledge built from working inside multiple platform types and state models at the same time.
Odyssey
ESA platform used across a growing set of states. Notable for not taking a cut of vendor or provider profit, which changes the economics of participation compared to marketplace-fee models.
Step Up For Students (SUFS)
Florida's major ESA administrator. Approval timelines can run 6 to 12 months. Getting through cleanly requires strategic preparation of documentation, categories, and submission sequencing to avoid the delays that stall most new vendors.
ClassWallet
One of the most widely used ESA disbursement platforms nationally. Runs on a Shopify-based marketplace model with a 15% marketplace fee to vendors, which shapes how pricing, listing structure, and product bundling need to be designed.
State-Run Platforms
States such as Tennessee and West Virginia administer ESA disbursement directly rather than through a third-party platform. Each has its own distinct compliance requirements, submission workflows, and approval logic that will not carry over from platform-based states.
New to School Choice Funding/ESA? Read the guide to platforms and vendor approval for what it takes to get approved as a vendor or provider across states.
Alternative Ed & Tutoring
In-person and online programs building for parents choosing outside the traditional school day.
Edtech Platforms
Digital products and subscriptions ready to reach families directly, not just school buyers.
Curriculum Providers
Publishers of print, physical, and digital curriculum navigating ESA category approvals and family-facing marketing.
Therapy & Enrichment Providers
Occupational, speech, counseling, and enrichment services set up to accept ESA funds for individual students.
Microschool Networks
Operators scaling across states with different funding and compliance landscapes.
Service-Based Providers
Coaches, classes, camps, and specialty programs building a family-direct book of business through ESA funding.
ESA Market Entry Readiness Scorecard
Six quick questions. Get a clear read on where you are, what to prioritize next, and whether you are ready to scale across states.
A tiered path built for corporate teams entering the ESA market.
Most companies start with the complimentary Fit Call so we can scope the work honestly. It's a real qualifying conversation, not a disguised sales pitch. Strategy Sessions are directly bookable when you already know your question. Project engagements are scoped on the Fit Call.
Quick qualifying conversation to scope your situation and point you to the right next step. No cost, no obligation.
One focused working session on any single question or challenge, at any org size. Starting rate covers most scopes; final price confirmed before booking when the topic requires deeper prep. Bookable directly when you already know what you need.
Full support to enter one ESA state or program. Final scope depends on vendor or provider status and current market readiness, confirmed on the Fit Call.
Sequenced entry across a regional footprint of 3-5 states, with approval, listing, and family-adoption strategy tuned per state. Nationwide or large-footprint rollouts continue as a custom retainer built around your team and cadence. Scoped on the Fit Call.
Custom consulting and retainers available after initial engagement.
Entering the school choice market? Let's scope it.
Start with a complimentary 15-minute Market Fit Call. Bring your situation, leave with a plan.