By Jason Smathers
WisBusiness.com
Some state lawmakers are looking for ways to keep the technology company Skyward in Wisconsin after the Stevens Point firm lost out on a contract for the state’s student information system.
However, those efforts aren’t moving so far, partly because legislators don’t want to act until the Department of Public Instruction has made a decision on Skyward’s appeal.
Sen. Julie Lassa and Rep. Katrina Shankland, both Stevens Point Dems, have drafted a bill that would allow multiple vendors for a statewide student information system. Currently, the SSIS contract has been tentatively awarded to one vendor, Minnesota-based Infinite Campus. Skyward is appealing that decision, saying that its proposal should have been scored as less costly than the Infinite Campus and that that other metrics were scored incorrectly.
WisBusiness.com contacted Infinite Campus COO Eric Creighton for comment on the company’s successful bid and Skyward’s protest. Creighton did not return multiple calls.
Lassa says the bill would allow a more “free market” approach to the system, which she says can still work if certain standards are set that let different districts systems communicate properly, regardless of the vendor that set up the system. Lassa and Shankland also hope that the move would keep Skyward in state. The company employs 280 people and had plans to expand if awarded the contract.
“What we’re most concerned about is the cost to taxpayers as well as the loss of jobs,” Shankland said. “It’s really a multi-pronged thing.”
Shankland says several Republican representatives, such as Rep. Scott Krug and John Spiros, have signed on to the bill. Her next meeting will be with Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, who chairs the Government Operations committee where the bill is currently sitting.
An Assembly Republican source said there’s not much movement on Lassa or Shankland’s bill because no one in the caucus wants to rush to judgment and make a hasty decision on the measure.
Lassa and Shankland also acknowledged some want to hold off doing anything with the SSIS contracts until DPI has made a decision on Skyward’s appeal. While there’s no firm deadline for the decision, DPI Superintendent Tony Evers said that decision is expected by mid-April.
**Skyward pushes for multi-vendor approach**
Skyward CEO Cliff King says the firm felt it was “on the outside looking in” at the beginning of the process and that the company supported a mutli-vendor solution from the very start, regardless of whether it won the contract.
Skyward hired lobbyists to oppose the single-vendor language in the budget and King argues the measure would not be the most effective use of taxpayer money.
“If the state chooses to go with a multi-vendor solution minimally, 60 percent of all of the school districts in Wisconsin would not need to change their current SIS providers and incur the unfunded costs of conversion, implementation, training and project management services,” King said in an e-mail. “This multi-vendor decision represents a significant cost savings for the state. With all the discussion about the upcoming budget, state government should look for ways to save taxpayers money not for additional ways to spend it.”
Skyward was initially accused of having an unfair advantage when the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation made a “soft offer” of tax credits to the company. Former WEDC CEO Paul Jadin has said that he felt WEDC was right to make the offer and further the mission of economic development, regardless of circumstances.
“We were well within our right legally and very well within our mission to offer the credits,” Jadin said. “On the other hand, there was another agency involved and in this case the procuring agency trumps our role.”
If DPI does not side with Skyward on its appeal, the company would likely appeal the decision to the state Department of Administration. If DOA then upheld the state’s decision, only then would Skyward consider litigation, King says.
But he also makes clear that with the company essentially closed out of the marketplace for student information systems, it’s likely to look to do business in other states. Skyward currently provides a statewide system for the state of Washington and provides other student information systems for districts in the upper Midwest and Texas.
**DPI backs single-vendor system**
DPI prefers to stick with a single vendor system, something that was recommended by a task force and added to the last state budget.
Evers said in an earlier interview with WisPolitics.com that the agency believes that a single-vendor system is necessary to provide a centralization and consistency in data collection.
“I supported it, the Legislature supported it, with the theory of action being that single vendor is going to be cheaper and more efficient,” Evers said. “You don’t have to worry about systems talking to each other. Right now we have multiple vendors talking across the state and we have no ability to collect data on a statewide basis.”
The single-vendor solution, which was crafted following a task force of school district stakeholders and DPI staff, was also inserted in the 2011-13 budget along with $15 million for implementation.
The final report of the task force acknowledged the concerns of school districts over a single-vendor solution, but concluded based on discussions with other states that it was the economically preferred route.
“The Workgroup believes that Wisconsin’s purchasing power for over 871,000 students will provide the most cost-effective solution for the State,” the report read. “The benefits of centralizing the system data into one place as well as the integration into other statewide systems are critical to the success of the project.”
Administrators from the La Crosse and Eau Claire school districts made their objections clear in a letter following the decision.
Their letter claimed that not all stakeholders involved in the task force were present for the final vote on recommendations and that such a decision poses an additional burden upon school district.
“Utilizing a single vendor solution basically disregards the work all those districts have done to build systems that meet their identified needs and unique educational experiences for their students,” the letter read.
* See the La Crosse and Eau Claire response
King argues that because more than half of all school districts currently use Skyward’s system, it would also impose additional costs on those districts to switch over to the Infinite Campus SIS.
WisBusiness.com contacted DPI Assistant Superintendent Kurt Kiefer for comment on the task force and some of the claims made in the La Crosse and Eau Claire letter. DPI spokesman Patrick Gaspar eventually responded on behalf of the agency, saying that DPI feels it would be inappropriate to comment on the Skyward situation while the agency is actively reviewing the appeal. He also pointed to an FAQ on the system that specifies that transition costs such as data migration and staff training will be covered by the state, not districts.
