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Lawmakers press Department of Education on multiple online college-and-career vendor contracts and appropriation limits
Summary
Committee members questioned why the Department of Education has multiple vendors contracted for an online college-and-career readiness system, how the $7 million project ceiling is enforced across several vendors, and why several contracts and amendments together exceed the project total in contract authorizations.
The Review Subcommittee heard sustained questions about multiple contracts for the Department of Education’s online college-and-career planning system after committee staff identified several vendors under contract or amendment for the same service.
Greg Rogers, Department of Education, confirmed there are multiple selected providers for the online college-and-career system. Representative Kavanaugh pressed how the department ensures the total project stays within the $7,000,000 appropriation when several vendors each have contracts that are authorized up to $7,000,000. Rogers responded, “I think there's 5,” and later said each contract is “authorized up to a million dollars each year” but constrained by the appropriation.
The exchange began when committee staff presented out-of-state contracts that included multiple vendors (Anaka Technologies, Kuder Inc., PowerSchool Holdings, Paychex, Mindset Labs, Deloitte, and others) that provide or support services for college-and-career planning, electronic transcripts and related systems. Representative Kavanaugh showed calculations suggesting amendments and payments already recorded for multiple vendors exceeded the $7,000,000 project ceiling, and asked how the Legislature can verify the total project cost remains within appropriation limits.
Rogers said the department requires districts to indicate in advance which vendor they will use and that the line-item appropriation limits use. He said that if spending would exceed available appropriation for any vendor or overall, the department would seek additional committee approval and ALC (appropriations) action before proceeding. Rogers also explained that some amendments—for example the PowerSchool amendment—cover additional services beyond the college-and-career tool (he said PowerSchool’s amendment includes AppScan work), which accounts for larger amendment amounts.
The subcommittee did not take a separate roll-call vote on any single contract during the discussion; the committee later approved the larger contract package under a single motion with one item pulled from review (see actions).
