Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Where There’s Smoke… (Editorial)

Editorial
1 min read

THIS IS AN OPINION

We'd also like to hear yours.
Tweet us @ArkBusiness or email us

We have to applaud the Arkansas legislators who questioned why the state should award a multimillion-dollar contract to a company that did not appear to be achieving the results it promised.

Solution Tree, based in Indiana, provides professional development for Arkansas teachers that is supposed to improve student achievement. But at least two studies, one by the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s Office for Education Policy and one by the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, found no significant gains. Solution Tree, naturally, holds otherwise, as do a few state lawmakers.

On May 28, members of the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Review Subcommittee asked pointed questions in a meeting about a new proposed $15.7 million contract, whose value if renewed over seven years would have risen to $99.4 million. And on May 30 the state Education Department withdrew the contract from consideration.

On June 2, the Solution Tree CEO asked to pull the contract from Arkansas’ review procedure entirely. The Education Department ended the contract one day later.

This quick capitulation leads one to wonder what Solution Tree was afraid legislators would find if they continued their queries. It also signals that skeptical legislators were on the right track.

Send this to a friend