Cannon County schools briefed on state-driven move away from Skyward and potential local costs

Miss Lisa, the district’s technology lead, told the Cannon County Board of Education at a Jan. 8 workshop that the state’s vendor list and hosting arrangements are changing and districts will face new costs. “No conversion will happen during the 2026–27 school year,” Lisa said, but she added districts may be required to move to a different product within the next few years.

Why it matters: the state previously hosted district data; Lisa said the state is no longer going to host data, which shifts hosting and some support costs to local districts. Staff have visited other districts and examined vendors including Edupoint (Synergy), PowerSchool, Infinite Campus and Follett as possible alternatives.

Budget and timeline: Lisa and others said the vendor that currently supplies Skyward has an upgraded product called Cumulative; the district was told conversions are being scheduled approximately 20 districts per year. Lisa warned the board that the district has not received final pricing and that training and hosting costs are unknown, but provided a staff estimate that hosting/training could increase district costs by at least a small per-student amount. “It’s almost a catch-22,” Lisa said, noting that waiting could increase costs because the state will no longer host data.

Next steps: staff said they will continue to collect pricing and implementation timelines and return to the board with specific cost estimates and recommendations. The board did not take action at the workshop; staff said any procurement decisions will return for formal board action when costs and contracts are known.