Texas’ Top Voucher Vendor Taps Abbott Allies in Contract Bid, Program Rollout

Even before the Texas Legislature absolutely passed its private school voucher bill earlier this year the race was on among the handful of firms in the burgeoning voucher vendor sector to win the lucrative contract to launch and administer what will be the largest plan of its kind in the nation That race is now over as the Texas Comptroller last month awarded the job to a New York firm called Odyssey In winning the bid and in its plans to ramp up the initiative Odyssey cultivated close ties to the political world of Governor Greg Abbott One of the top outfits in the voucher vendor battle Odyssey is backed with major venture capitalist investments As the Texas Observer previously communicated Odyssey and others pushed hard to win the Texas contract essentially the industry s holy grail Awarding the contract to the private administrator of the venture known as a certified educational assistance organization CEAO marks a key milestone in the voucher rollout as the comptroller delegates control of almost every facet of the campaign from handling applications and approvals for students to accepting the private schools and other vendors eligible to participate plus controlling the flow of state money to and fro Odyssey will also be in charge of the marketing and PR involved with promoting and defending the scheme which the state has dubbed Texas Instruction Freedom Accounts Voucher funds will be eligible to be used not only for participating private schools tuition and homeschooling but also for tutoring services and an array of other educational materials Abbott staked much of his hard-earned political capital and campaign cash on getting the school voucher venture over the finish line In the Republican primaries he used his political war chest to oust several anti-voucher incumbents who d previously blocked passage in the Texas House This effort was aided by a record million in campaign contributions from Jeff Yass a Pennsylvania billionaire and voucher advocate During the legislative session Odyssey tapped lobbyist Luis Saenz who was previously Abbott s longtime chief of staff to work on its behalf as the governor worked to pass the bill It also made Daniel Warner ex-Speaker Dade Phelan s learning program advisor its state director For PR Odyssey will also turn to Abbott allies according to its bid proposal which the Observer obtained under state open records law Odyssey hired the Austin firm Vianovo to run population relations for the operation with a club that includes John Wittman Abbott s former communications director and Matthew Hirsch Abbott s ex-deputy chief of staff Vianovo will serve as the lead for proactive media engagement across Texas building relationships with journalists pitching positive stories about the Campaign and coordinating interviews with Comptroller staff participating families school leaders vendors and providers the proposal states It would also handle any turbulence that may emerge In the event of conflict or misinformation Vianovo will provide emergency communications strategy issue rapid response guidance and ensure a consistent aligned message across stakeholders In rolling out the scheme Odyssey stated in its bid proposal that it plans to partner with a long list of outside stakeholders to raise awareness of private school vouchers in Texas Those entities include powerful conservative organizations the American Federation of Children Americans for Prosperity the Club for Progress the Texas Constituents Guidelines Foundation TPPF the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute the Texas Home School Coalition and Texas Values Action Those groups provided considerable political backing to Abbott as he campaigned for legislative endorsement around vouchers over the past two years Odyssey s contract will cost the state a total of million for and with an option to extend for two more years beyond that as well as million a year for a marketing campaign The law stipulates that the state can pay such vendors or CEAOs up to percent of the biennial funding which is at the moment billion The ceiling for the contract value could dramatically increase in the future as the campaign s costs are projected to jump to around billion by the end of the decade Odyssey s bid was the lowest according to the Houston Chronicle compared with million from Classwallet and million from StudentFirst Technologies The comptroller also graded Odyssey higher than those two competitors on its qualifications performance in other states and plan to implement the operation in Texas per the Chronicle The New York equipment firm has become one of the the majority popular players in its rapidly growing niche realm Odyssey was founded in by Joseph Connor who had already made a career in school privatization as a lawyer consultant and founder of a microschools company Connor also wrote an amicus brief for a critical U S Supreme Court decision ruling that state-funded private school vouchers did not equate to religious discrimination As the Texas Tribune has broadcasted Odyssey also won a contest for learning innovation founded by Yass and his wife In response to the prize Connor celebrated the Yass family for launching an incredible movement to push for school choice and mentoring freedom nationwide Odyssey pitched itself to Texas as the only vendor capable of providing a fully automated system to administer all facets of the project From application to eligibility and funding to spending our system removes friction and delivers real-time encouragement As the pioneer in the space and still the only provider able to verify identity and deliver eligibility determinations in seconds we ve demonstrated how automation can expand access while ensuring integrity Connor wrote in the bid proposal Critics have pointed to issues that Odyssey has had in running similar voucher programs in other states Given Odyssey s track record of operational mismanagement and misuse of state funds in much smaller voucher programs Texans should sound the alarm about the Comptroller s decision to entrust Odyssey with billion of our taxpayer dollars and the educational outcomes of our children declared Maggie Stern of the general coaching advocacy group Our Schools Our Democracy in a report last month We urge the Comptroller to ensure that discretionary information is included in a thorough and society annual audit on how Odyssey manages Texas voucher initiative The company s work on other state voucher programs has been met with complaints In Odyssey won its first statewide contract in Idaho to run that state s voucher-like campaign As Idaho Mentoring News shared the State Board of Training identified in ineligible purchases under the campaign though a later audit identified a smaller dollar amount and the governor gave the scheme a clean bill of healthcare the Idaho outlet stated Odyssey also had to turn over interest it had earned from holding effort funds in a bank account In Iowa the state auditor identified the company s contract increased beyond its initial cost to account for transaction fees The contract stipulates that Odyssey could face penalties if it does not meet certain performance standards such as keeping its online platforms running and promptly processing transactions In a letter to the Texas Attorney General Odyssey argued against release of certain materials related to its bid that it deemed confidential Given the importance of regime contracts in this business segment any insight into the process and specifically how to win a regime contract has key commercial value the company wrote Odyssey also hired a group called Outschool org to assist with what it called grassroots marketing of the activity with an emphasis on homeschooling families who its bid pointed out are expected to make up a large share of undertaking participants and face distinct hindrances including concerns over leadership interference regulatory confusion and lack of promotion Odyssey and Outschool would partner with state home school groups including the Texas Home School Coalition as well as TikTok influencers to deliver project information from trusted voices Steel Digital Studios was also hired as a subcontractor for Odyssey charged with heading up its advertising services That Austin firm has previously done work with Texas state agencies and universities in addition to local school districts The next phase in the voucher rollout applications open in February will be for Odyssey to set up an online marketplace of approved private schools along with other mentoring vendors to provide eligible services like tutoring online learning and curriculum material Odyssey will be fully in charge of that marketplace vetting each possible vendor and either providing its recommendations to the comptroller or if the state chooses making unilateral decisions on vendors Since signing the vouchers bill into law Abbott has ensured his influence will extend through the implementation of the operation including with the bending of state law to make state Senator and key political ally Kelly Hancock the acting comptroller Hancock also named Mary Katherine Stout as the state s voucher undertaking director Stout previously served as Governor Rick Perry s budget director and as a vice president of TPPF In an emailed message an Odyssey spokesperson notified the Observer Like any company doing business in and with the State of Texas Odyssey partners with the best experts available who can help administer the plan and ensure that all eligible Texas families have the materials they need to access Texas Learning Freedom Accounts Odyssey is proud to have been the top-scoring company in a competitive bidding process Abbott s office did not respond to a request for comment The post Texas Top Voucher Vendor Taps Abbott Allies in Contract Bid Effort Rollout appeared first on The Texas Observer