Arkansas cancels Student First’s contract due to problems with the school voucher program

Little Rock, Arkansas – The company that the Arkansas Department of Education selected earlier this year to oversee its school choice voucher program, Student First Technologies, has had its contract canceled.

The bad news arrives at a difficult time since Arkansas children are enrolling in the voucher program at an increasing rate (up to 14,000 by the following school year), and the state does not yet have a replacement for Student First.

The Department of Education claims that Student First frequently missed deadlines and, when it did, the web platforms it developed were defective.

Under the LEARNS Act, Student First was hired to construct an online platform for literacy tutoring grants and Education Freedom Accounts, which give Arkansas kids and their families state money to spend on private school tuition and other educational activities.

In this capacity, the business oversees the allocation of millions of public funds to private educational institutions and other suppliers on behalf of students enrolled in the initiatives.

Arkansas struck a better contract with Student First in March than it did with ClassWallet, the previous provider that oversaw the programs in 2023 when they were first put into place.
Student First placed a price that was almost $3.5 million lower than ClassWallet when the state decided to request bids for 2024, and they went on to win the contract.

Nonetheless, legislators expressed reservations during the Arkansas Legislative Council meeting when the deal with Student First was voted on.

The implementation of LEARNS heavily relies on this. According to what I’ve heard, ClassWallet employs 300 people, while Student First employs just 10. Last year, 5,000 students used this. State Senator Bart Hester (R) of District 33 stated, “It looks like we will double, if not nearly triple—I know it caps out at 14,000 next year—this has to be done well, with excellence,” at a meeting of the Arkansas Legislative Council on May 31.

“Are you confident that someone with ten employees can implement this well, with excellence?” Hester enquired of state procurement authorities.

The shortcomings of the new contract holder quickly became evident.

Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva wrote the corporation in September airing his department’s complaints and requesting that they fix several issues by October.

As stated in the letter, Student First consistently disregarded its contractual duties.

Due on May 31, the organization was two months behind schedule in delivering fully functional application portals for vendors, schools, and students.

It took the corporation about two months longer than expected to complete the fund-disbursement and expenditure submission platforms, which were also scheduled to be completed by June 30.

Furthermore, Student First has not completed the platform for submitting expenses for homeschooled children in Arkansas, which was also due by June 30.

Beyond all of that, however, Oliva claims that the things that Student First did supply had serious issues, like general system breakdowns and extremely sluggish payment processing that may take up to two weeks.

The state decided last week to end the contract with the company and demand $563,000 in penalties and damages after the company failed to address these issues.

According to the Arkansas Department of Education, the following is stated:
The platform’s problems kept parents from taking advantage of the best educational options for their kids. The vendor failed to perform up to the high standards we have set for the program and failed to meet any objectives. We are ending the contract in the best interests of the students and their families because we do not think Student First can live up to these high standards. In the meanwhile, we will keep assisting families in getting what they require.”

Till the end of this year, when the contract expires, Student First is still required to uphold its end of the bargain.