LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Department of Education has moved to end a deal with the company that manages the state’s school choice vouchers program.
An Oct. 8 letter from Education Secretary Jacob Oliva to the CEO of Student First Technologies cites the company’s failure to provide an operating computer system on time. Olive states in the letter that the contract will formally end on Dec. 31.
The Arkansas Transparency website shows that the contract with Student First Technologies of Bloomington, Indiana, is valued at $25 million, with $8.840 million paid to date.
Oliva cited a Sept. 16 letter he sent to the vendor warning that it had “calculated substantial damages for failure to satisfy contractual deadlines.” Oliva said this was followed by a Sept. 25 meeting between education officials and Student First to determine a concrete contract completion date and an accounting of funds.