Operational clarity for mission-aligned schools.
Custom systems. Steady partnership. Sustainable growth.
VAO handles the financial, HR, and compliance work that keeps your school running — so your leadership team can stay focused on students, families, and mission.
Built for schools that are building something that matters.
VAO works with education organizations at every stage — from founding teams figuring out their first budget to established schools ready to grow without losing what makes them special.
Charter Schools
Authorized and operating schools that need a steady operations partner — not a vendor — to manage finance, HR, and compliance as they grow.
Microschools & Small Learning Communities
Innovative models with lean teams who need back-office infrastructure that doesn't require hiring a full operations staff to maintain.
Education Nonprofits & Homeschool Enrichment
Mission-driven organizations serving students and families outside traditional school structures — who still need real financial and HR systems.
Founding Teams & Expanding Schools
Schools still in formation, or established schools opening new sites — who need operational foundations built before the pressure of opening day hits.
If you're not sure whether VAO is the right fit, that's exactly what a first conversation is for.
Let's talkThe operational backbone your school needs to grow without breaking.
VAO works alongside your team across three core areas — so the systems behind your school are as strong as the vision in front of it.
Clear numbers.
Confident decisions.
We build the financial infrastructure that keeps your school solvent, compliant, and board-ready — from day-to-day bookkeeping and payroll to multi-year budget planning and cash flow modeling. You'll always know where you stand.
We helped a founding charter team build their first full budget model — and close their inaugural audit without a single finding.
Your team deserves systems that protect them.
From offer letters and onboarding to benefits administration and employee relations, we design HR systems that reflect your school's values — and keep you on the right side of labor law. When compliance gets complex, we're already ahead of it.
We build onboarding systems so that new hires feel the culture — and understand their benefits — before their first day.
Built to last,
not just to launch.
Scaling a school — or starting one — takes more than a vision. We support charter applications, enrollment growth planning, expansion feasibility, and the operational infrastructure that lets you grow without losing what makes your school yours.
We partner with founding teams from pre-application through first-year operations — building systems before the pressure hits.
Not sure where to start? Let's talk through where your school is right now.
Schedule a Conversation
A steady partner,
not another vendor.
Most back-office providers hand you a template and a login. VAO embeds alongside your team — learning how your school works, building systems that fit it, and staying through every stage of growth.
Senior-level operations expertise without the cost of a full-time hire — engaged part-time, fully invested in your mission.
Every school is different. We design finance, HR, and compliance systems around your model — not the other way around.
One partner across your core operational functions — so nothing falls through the cracks between departments.
From pre-opening through expansion — we're built for the long term, not a one-time engagement.
Built by someone who's been inside the work.
"I've seen what happens when a great school doesn't have the operational foundation to survive. VAO exists so that doesn't have to happen."
Shannon Gossard started VAO Collaborative — Vision Aligned Operations, pronounced "vow" — because she'd spent years on the inside of charter school operations and kept seeing the same pattern: schools with powerful missions struggling not because of their vision, but because of their systems.
Her entry into this work wasn't theoretical. As Director of Business & Operations at the Academy of Arts & Knowledge, Shannon led the school through a probationary renewal — moving it from the edge of closure to long-term financial and operational stability. That experience shaped everything about how VAO works today.
She went on to build and lead the operations arm of Minga Education Group as Chief Operating Officer, supporting charter schools across Colorado at every stage — brand-new startups preparing to open, schools transitioning off CMO support, and established schools that needed targeted operational help.
VAO is the firm Shannon wished had existed when she was sitting across the table from school leaders who needed a real partner — someone as invested in the growth and progress of the school as the team leading it.
Led a full operational turnaround during probationary renewal — from near-closure to long-term financial stability.
Designed and launched the operations division, supporting charter schools across Colorado from launch through independence.
Partners with charter schools and education nonprofits to build the financial, HR, and compliance systems their missions deserve.
What happens when you reach out.
No commitment, no pressure. Just a conversation to figure out whether VAO is the right fit for your school.
We start with a conversation to hear about your school — where you are, where you're headed, and what's feeling hardest right now.
No commitment requiredIf there's a fit, we take a closer look at your operational landscape — finance, HR, compliance, systems — and identify where the highest-leverage support lives.
Tailored to your school's stageWe put together an engagement scoped specifically to your school — built around what you actually need, not a standard package. You decide if it's right.
Custom to your school, every time