This is Indie Education.
Built by founders. Chosen by families. Sustained by demand.
VELA is the nation’s most trusted platform for founder-led, family-chosen education, investing in thousands of enduring learning models that families choose and sustain.
The movement is everywhere.
Indie Education is already in all 50 states, in communities just like yours.
5,000+
Founders
5.5M
Learners
served
served
$50M
Invested
50
States
The education revolution in your neighborhood
The most important change in education today is not happening in policy. It is happening in families. Across the country, families are not waiting for reform. They are discovering learning environments that better fit their children, their values, and their communities. They are building something new. We call this movement Indie Education.
This is not school choice. It is freedom and ownership, and VELA is the engine powering it.
VELA is the engine of the Indie Education movement, the national platform connecting, funding, and accelerating founder-led programs that families are choosing right now.
Our goal: make Indie Education a mainstream choice for 10 million American students by 2030.
Meet the Founders
Thousands of founders are building something new. Here are a few of them.
Kym Kent
eXtend Homeschool Tutorial
Bowie, MD
Bowie, MD
Keri Sanders
PEAK Christian Academy
Abilene, TX
Abilene, TX
Tobin Slavin
Acton Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Meet our President
Meredith Olson founded VELA on a conviction that families, not systems, should own education. She recently sat down with Mike Rowe to talk about why millions of families are choosing something different, and what it looks like when education is truly built for the people it serves.
Is Indie Education effective?
The proof is in the demand. When families keep coming back, year after year, tuition in hand, that is the most honest signal of all.
VELA does not impose a one-size-fits-all accountability framework on founders. We believe families, not external parties, are in the best position to judge whether a program is working for their children. And the data backs them up:
90%
of VELA programs serve more learners now than when they started with VELA
80%
of VELA programs are sustainable on tuition and fees
Our leadership team
Meredith Olson
President
Meredith leads VELA with a commitment to founder-led growth, disciplined capital deployment, and long-term sustainability. Under her leadership, VELA has built the largest national network of Indie Education founders across all 50 states.
Derek Johnson
Board Chairman
Derek Johnson is Executive Director of Stand Together Trust and Senior Vice President of Stand Together. He has served in leadership positions in the Stand Together community for more than a decade.
Todd Rose
Board Member
Todd is co-founder and CEO of Populace, a think tank committed to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to pursue fulfilling lives in a thriving society. He is the author of three bestselling books: The End of Average, Dark Horse, and Collective Illusions.
Beth Seling
Chief of Operations
Beth oversees VELA operational strategy, capital deployment systems, and organizational infrastructure, ensuring that grantmaking, network growth, and technology development are executed with rigor and discipline.
Ready to join the movement?
Whether you are a founder building something new or a family looking for a better fit, VELA is where you connect.