四虎影院

Explore

Overwhelmed ESA Systems in West Virginia, Arkansas Leave Thousands of Homeschoolers Hanging

Families and advocates say Indiana-based Student First Technologies, which was contracted to process payments, has not kept up with surging demand.

Alexander Switzer, one of Katie Switzer鈥檚 five children, is among the thousands of West Virginia homeschooled students waiting on orders of school supplies and curriculum. (Courtesy of Katie Switzer)

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 四虎影院 Newsletter

Updated October 9

Two years ago, Katie Switzer for a new school choice program that grants homeschooling families in West Virginia up to $4,900 annually to educate their children.

She was on the winning side when opponents sued to stop the program. But now, she says, the story of the Hope Scholarship has entered a frustrating new chapter. 

Glitches in a new online purchasing system mean she can鈥檛 spend funds to order headsets for her three children in online classes. Her kindergartner received the wrong laptop and she spent weeks trying to get a refund. Her kids are among thousands whose learning has been disrupted this school year because orders for curriculum and supplies are backed up. Families have been forced to wait or spend their own money and ask the state for reimbursement. 

鈥淲e fought so hard to get this program,鈥 said Switzer, a mother of five and founder of a that has become a forum for dozens of families frustrated with the payment system. 鈥淣ow we have a number of parents that haven鈥檛 received what they ordered.鈥

In April, the West Virginia State Treasurer鈥檚 Office, which runs the Hope Scholarship, awarded a to Indiana-based Student First Technologies to manage purchases and payments to education providers, replacing a non-profit the state contracted with last year. But the system has struggled to keep up as enrollment in the education savings account program jumped from about last year to over 10,000. In late September, almost 3,000 of the 9,000 orders submitted through the company鈥檚 platform had not been processed, according to the state. By Thursday, the system had gotten that number down to 1,600 out of 11,300 鈥 or roughly 14% of orders.

Last week, the treasurer鈥檚 office held a forum to allow parents to voice their concerns. But Switzer said the meeting was short on hard information.

鈥淚’m like, 鈥榃e want answers; we don’t just want to yell at you,鈥 鈥 she said.

Katie Switzer was part of a lawsuit defending West Virginia鈥檚 Hope Scholarship before the state Supreme Court when school choice opponents sued to block the program. Three of her five children use the ESA program. (Courtesy of Katie Switzer)

Student First鈥檚 problems aren鈥檛 limited to West Virginia. In a聽Sept. 16 letter, Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva told CEO Mark Duran that his company failed to meet deadlines, including one for delivering a 鈥渇ully operational鈥 purchasing platform for homeschool families participating in the state鈥檚 Education Freedom Account program.聽He followed up with a second Tuesday, canceling the company’s contract as of Dec. 31 and requiring Student First to pay an estimated $563,000 in damages.聽

On Wednesday, the state also posted a  for another vendor.

“The failure of Student First to perform its obligations under the contract requires the agency to procure a new contract that, based on the circumstances, will increase the cost to operate the same program,” Oliva wrote.

Student First officials have not returned phone calls or emails for this article.

As Republican-led states continue to adopt and expand ESAs, they are building centralized  systems for homeschooling parents to buy curriculum, services and supplies. Controversy surrounding ESAs has largely focused on isolated cases of fraud, including funds for 鈥済host students鈥 in Arizona and extravagant parent-purchased items and . But school choice advocates argue that one of the biggest threats to the programs is poor customer service, including online platforms that malfunction or block orders for items that should be allowable. 

Parents are complaining about 鈥渓ong approval wait times and issues with getting invoices paid,鈥 said Mike McShane, director of national research at EdChoice, an advocacy group. 鈥淚t is tough to say whether it is the platforms or the states that are causing the problems. I imagine if you ask the platforms they鈥檒l blame the states, and if you ask the states they鈥檒l blame the platforms.鈥

The West Virginia treasurer鈥檚 office did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year, McShane states not to skimp on the 鈥渟low, laborious and dull work鈥 of implementation. He called the difficulties 鈥渢eething pains鈥 as states open programs to more families.

鈥楾hrough the roof鈥

Under ESAs, parents can use their accounts to pay for tuition at private schools, or to fund homeschooling expenses or a mixture of in-person and online learning.

Recent data from and other shows that homeschooling rates remain above pre-pandemic levels. In the 2022-23 school year, nearly 6% of students were homeschooled, compared with 2.8% in 2019. ESAs 鈥渨ill potentially expand homeschooling practice even more.鈥 

While it鈥檚 relatively simple to use ESA funds to pay tuition to a private school, advocates say Student First probably didn鈥檛 anticipate the flurry of activity from homeschooling families who often place dozens of orders for curriculum and supplies.

鈥淭he demand for these programs has been through the roof,鈥 McShane said. 鈥淪o scaling up the tech and infrastructure is going to take time.鈥

Critics, however, argue that such 鈥渕iddleman鈥 vendors are not only causing headaches for families, but raising the costs of running the programs themselves. Iowa, for example, upped its contract with Odyssey, a similar payment company, to reflect additional charges for on purchases.

Josh Cowen, a Michigan State University professor and leading voucher opponent, said it鈥檚 typical for states to contract with third-party providers to manage publicly funded programs. But Cowen, who recently published about some of the wealthy donors behind the school choice movement, pointed to a 鈥渃hronic problem鈥 with vendors running ESA programs, especially as the list of allowable items grows.

鈥淚 think that the burden should be even higher on states authorizing vendors to explain why we need them and why they’re worth the cost,鈥 he said. 

Arkansas, where the ESA program provides $6,800 per student, awarded a to Student First in April, replacing ClassWallet, the largest company in the sector, with contracts in 11 states. 

The program began in 2023-24, but this is the first year some homeschoolers can participate, including the children of first responders, servicemembers and those in failing schools.

鈥淣ot all homeschool families are eligible this year, and it’s really a good thing鈥 given the processing delays, said Lisa Crook, director of Education Alliance, a network of Arkansas homeschooling families. Parents are calling her for answers, but she said the state is reimbursing expenses as fast as it can. 鈥淚t has been frustrating, but I don’t feel like they have turned a blind eye to us or anything.鈥

The West Virginia treasurer鈥檚 office has also created some temporary workarounds. In a Sept. 23 email, the state said it would reimburse families that had to pay up front for expensive items like school uniforms and musical instruments. But advocates note that not all families can afford to pay for items out of pocket and wait for reimbursements.

Parents have voiced their complaints about Student First鈥檚 TheoPay platform in Google Chrome鈥檚 Web Store.

In addition to the backlog of orders, Student First鈥檚 鈥淭heoPay鈥 platform, for now, only works as an extension to Chrome 鈥 a violation of its the program to work across multiple browsers and be mobile-friendly. 

Switzer said parents who lack Chrome or home internet service have come to her house to place orders. 

鈥淭his is a high-poverty state,鈥 she said. 鈥淧arents can’t use their phones [to place orders] or they can’t use the local library computer to order stuff because you can’t install the Chrome extension on a library computer.鈥

As director of education partnerships and strategy at the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, a right-leaning think tank, Tiffany Hoben is an advocate for ESAs. 

She also has an 11-year-old son on a Hope Scholarship. She uses the funds to purchase science, math, and reading materials from different vendors and to pay for tutors. Student First鈥檚 website promises 鈥渇rictionless technology.鈥 But the system is blocking orders for some parents while green-lighting purchases from other families for identical items.

鈥淚t’s hard for families,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like, 鈥榃ell, dang it, I should be able to have this because it鈥檚 on the list.鈥 鈥

鈥業n the dark鈥

Most states with ESA programs have had some challenges with their payment systems. But in Arizona, which contracts with ClassWallet, many of the kinks have been worked out, said Kathy Visser, who runs a Facebook group for ESA parents. If there are delays with approvals, it鈥檚 usually due to a backlog at the state level or because officials have changed the rules about what鈥檚 allowed. 

鈥淔or the most part, if you contact ClassWallet with an issue, they’re very responsive,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd if it’s their fault that you had an issue, it’s quickly resolved.鈥

She worries that problems with vendors in other states will bolster critics鈥 arguments that ESA鈥檚 drain state resources.  

鈥淭hey鈥檒l say, 鈥楲ook, you can’t even manage the programs,鈥 鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey want to make sure parents quit using it. If parents get fed up, then the program fails.鈥

Hoben, with Cardinal Institute, said in the rush to get West Virginia鈥檚 purchasing system in place, families have been kept 鈥渋n the dark鈥 about why their orders aren鈥檛 being processed. 

鈥淥ther states,鈥 she said, 鈥渁re watching us out of the corner of their eye, like 鈥楪od do we even want to mess with this?鈥 鈥 

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 四虎影院 Newsletter

Republish This Article

We want our stories to be shared as widely as possible 鈥 for free.

Please view 四虎影院's republishing terms.





On 四虎影院 Today