Report examines $61 million school management-system boondoggle…

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the state performance evaluation that says Idaho wasted $61 million on a failed statewide instructional management system for schools, as former state schools Superintendent Tom Luna pushed it forward despite warnings it wouldn’t work. Luna signed two contracts totaling $10.9 million in 2010 and 2011 with NCS Pearson Inc. for Schoolnet, plus an array of other smaller contracts as part of the project. Millions more was spent directly, on everything from professional development to technology. Pearson was one of three vendors named as finalists for the contract after a request for information issued in January of 2010. The total spent included most of a $21 million grant from the J.A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation and more than $40 million in state tax funds.

“The problems with the project began long before a system vendor was selected, were rooted in decisions made by the department, and importantly, were for the most part avoidable,” the report found.