Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva discusses draft rules with state education board members during a work session in Little Rock on March 6, 2024. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
An Indiana-based company that earlier this year dropped its contract with the Arkansas Department of Education was selected as one of 17 vendors qualified to provide professional development services to school districts.
Solution Tree withdrew its $99.4 million contract with ADE following pushback from lawmakers in May over the high cost of the seven-year proposal and questions about the vendor’s effectiveness.
State law requires $16.5 million be provided annually for professional development activities and implementation of professional learning communities. Legislators approved ADE’s request in August to seek proposals from vendors to provide those services. Instead of having one provider, state education officials said districts would have the option to select which qualified vendor, if any, they’d like to work with.
“We are honored to be a qualified vendor for Arkansas,” Solution Tree CEO Jeff Jones said Friday. “This allows us to continue our work with Arkansas educators, providing schools with the tools and resources they need to succeed. We look forward to working with Arkansas schools and districts to improve student achievement and create a brighter future for all.”
The state first awarded a $4 million no-bid contract to Solution Tree in 2017. In February, lawmakers requested an audit of the company’s contract after learning Solution Tree has received more than $140 million from the state, school districts and education cooperatives, according to the Arkansas Times. The audit has not yet been completed.
The state awarded Solution Tree a new seven-year contract this year after its proposal earned the highest score from evaluators. According to the proposed contract, Solution Tree would have received $15.7 million in the first year for professional development training. The total projected cost over the contract’s term was $99.4 million.
After much debate during a legislative meeting in late May, Education Secretary Jacob Oliva requested the contract be withdrawn from consideration. Jones rescinded Solution Tree’s contract a few days later.
In addition to questions about why Solution Tree was more costly than other vendors’ proposals, which ranged from $19 million to $26 million, lawmakers also asked why the state should continue working with a vendor that didn’t improve student achievement during its first seven-year contract.
According to a report from the University of Arkansas’ Office for Education Policy, participation in Solution Tree’s PLC at Work program yielded “no statistically significant effect” on weighted student achievement or student value-added growth.
Districts interested in working with Solution Tree or one of the other 16 vendors can apply for professional learning grants through ADE’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Applicants who choose not to use one of the 17 approved vendors must provide additional information regarding use of the professional development funding, according to an Oct. 23 memo.
Applications are due Jan. 31, 2025.
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