CONCORD, NH – On Wednesday, December 8th, the Executive Council voted 4-1 to pass a modified contract for for-profit education vendor Prenda. Statement from Zandra Rice Hawkins, Executive Director of Granite State Progress:
“Sununu’s Republican majorities on the Executive Council have made it clear they would rather send millions of dollars to a for-profit education vendor than invest in our public schools and thousands of Granite State students. Prenda is a multi-marketing school privatization scheme, which requires its hired pod leaders to recruit more students to enroll in its program but does not have any requirements that those leaders have a background in education or teacher certification. It is shameful that Sununu gave this out-of-state corporation a no-bid contract last year using COVID-19 federal relief dollars and agreed to pay them $5,000 per student – which is more than the average $3,800 per pupil base adequacy payment given to school districts – and now supports extending Prenda’s contract even though the corporation failed to deliver on its first set of deliverables. What is most egregious is that this program is being sold by Commissioner Frank Edelblut as a way to address potential learning loss for some of our most vulnerable students but instead places them in settings with pod leaders who may have no educational training. This contract sells a bill of false goods to families in our community, which is probably a reason why so many people have rejected it thus far.”
Background
Prenda currently has a $6 million contract to set up “learning pods” or microschools across the state, diverting public taxpayer dollars to this for-profit company instead of investing those dollars in our public schools and thousands of Granite State students. Governor Sununu gave the out-of-state corporation a no-bid contract last year using COVID-19 federal relief dollars and agreed to pay them $5,000 per student – which is more than the average $3,800 per pupil base adequacy payment given to school districts.
So far Prenda has created 21 community pods and worked with 5 school districts to support a grand total of 100 students – or essentially 3-4 students per pod. It is unclear how many of the Prenda community pods are existing home school programs that are now being funded by the state, and whether parents of students with special education needs understand they are waiving their rights to protection of certain special education laws if they sign up for them.
Meanwhile, Prenda’s main requirements to become a ‘learning pod guide’ is previous paid or volunteer experience working with children (or homeschooling your own children) and the ability to recruit students from at least two different families to set up a microschool. There is no requirement to be a trained educator or other qualified individual to provide instruction. Instead, the primary focus is on recruiting enough students to foster this multi-marketing school privatization scheme.
One section of the revised contract will reduce Prenda’s funding because it has not met its contract obligations; two other sections extend the program for another two years and allow Prenda to use state funding for facilities – both steps to further cement this program in New Hampshire. Since the Executive Council can only vote up or down on the contract, Granite State Progress urged councilors to reject it completely and direct DOE to submit another amended contract that addresses the significant concerns above, including reducing Prenda’s funding.
More than 260 Granite Staters submitted letters urging rejection of the Prenda contract, as part of a petition campaign by Granite State Progress.