Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
BESE approves one‑year extension of Odyssey contract to ready education savings account program
Summary
The board approved an amendment extending the department’s contract with Odyssey through June 30, 2026, to provide the system and deliverables needed to launch an education savings account program; the amendment adds user feedback capability, a detailed work plan and enhanced training materials.
The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved an amendment to the Department of Education’s contract with Odyssey that extends the agreement through June 30, 2026, and adds deliverables intended to support an education savings account program and its launch.
Beth Cieno, deputy superintendent of finance at the Louisiana Department of Education, told the committee the amendment will extend the contract through June 30, 2026, and adds several deliverables, including a system feature to allow users to comment on the usefulness of the platform, a detailed work plan for the coming year, and enhanced, task‑specific training videos.
Dr. Hunter Brumley said the amendment is necessary to have a program administrator in place to launch the program (referred to in the meeting as “Gator”), and to allow funding to flow for the 2025–26 academic year.
Dr. Nancy Armstrong (Dr. Armstrong) commended the department and Odyssey for resolving a March 1 technical problem that produced an influx of extraneous applications and traffic; she said the issue “within just a few minutes, it was all resolved” and praised staff who worked through the event.
A department representative noted the governor’s executive budget “currently reflects the $93,000,000” connected with the program, as discussed in the meeting; the board approved the contract amendment with no objections recorded.
The committee chair also reminded members that a later agenda item would review applicant analytics for the Odyssey system; board members were asked to reserve application‑specific questions for that later item.
