Cartwright board approves Sabis K–6 ELA adoption; contract costs to be negotiated
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
The Cartwright governing board voted to award RFP No. 26-01-33K to Sabis (Sabas Learning Company LLC) for a K–6 English language arts adoption after a multi-step review; administration said contract negotiations will determine final costs, with a budget estimate of up to about $4.6 million over seven years.
The Cartwright Elementary School District governing board on a roll-call vote approved the district’s recommendation to adopt a new K–6 English language arts curriculum from Sabis (Sabas Learning Company LLC).
The recommendation followed an RFP process that, according to Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Jessica Larson, solicited 56 vendors and received five complete proposals. An adoption committee and an oversight committee reviewed materials and vendor presentations, narrowed to two finalists (HMH and Sabis), and forwarded Sabis as the committee’s recommendation.
"We sent the request to 56 vendors and had five responses," Larson said during the presentation, and described the adoption committee’s vendor-review timeline, public-facing materials in the boardroom, vendor presentations constrained to 25 minutes, and 10 prepared questions each vendor answered for comparability.
Board members asked about family and teacher input and the cost. Larson said 34 feedback forms were received online and that principals and teachers participated in the adoption and RFP committees. On cost, Larson and district staff said the materials and professional learning will be negotiated in the contract phase; administration provided an initial budgeting figure of about $4.6 million as a maximum across seven years from capital funds.
Vice President Cantu moved to award RFP No. 26-01-33K to Sabis Learning Company LLC; the motion was seconded and passed by roll call with the board voting in favor.
Next steps: administration will negotiate contract details (final costs, professional development plan, and material rollout) and return to the board for final approval of the contract amount and implementation timeline.
Why it matters: The new adoption, if implemented as described, would supply a districtwide, tier-1 English language arts curriculum with embedded professional learning; administrators said the professional learning plan will be central to successful use and that vendor data showed ELA gains in some comparable populations.
The board’s approval covers the award of the RFP to the recommended vendor; exact pricing and contract terms will be presented to the board for final action.