The 48 districts that own the Technology and Information Educational Services, or TIES, collaborative expect to pay as much as $20 per student to cover the organization’s liabilities as it transitions to a new operator. Those districts enroll roughly 300,000 students and together will pay about $6 million on the transition.
The move will have a far-reaching impact.
When TIES’s other customers are added in, about half a million students and their families across Minnesota count on the organization’s software to monitor academic progress and communicate with teachers. Many districts also use TIES tools to manage employee data and account for how they spend taxpayer dollars.
Every year, Minnesota spends about $9 billion on public schools.
A COMING TRANSITION
The services TIES provides are not going way. Another state-run collaborative, Sourcewell, which was formerly called the National Joint Power Alliance, has agreed to take over governance of the organization.Mark Wolak, TIES’s executive director, says Sourcewell stepping in gives member districts and other customers the flexibility of choosing new vendors or continuing with the organization.
“We couldn’t have a better ending to the circumstances we were facing,” Wolak said.
Sourcewell leaders say they’re putting the finishing touches on their business model, but they plan to offer education technology services similar to what TIES does now. The 40-year-old government agency facilitated $3 billion in cooperative government purchasing last year.
“We see a need for schools in the technology space and we hope we can be part of that solution,” said Travis Baultz, marketing director. “We have a lot of experience working with public schools and understanding what members are looking for.”
A TOUGH BUT UNANIMOUS CHOICE
When TIES started in 1967, specialized educational software was a rarity. But not anymore.As the technology market has grown exponentially, a relatively small organization like TIES has struggled to keep up.
Last year, the organization’s board of directors decided it needed to increase membership fees by 67 percent to keep its $43 million annual budget balanced. The move led to the quickening of an exodus of member districts, with more than a quarter signaling they planned to leave.
Board members then began serious deliberations over the organization’s future. Executive director Wolak says it was a difficult balance; about half of TIES members were dependent on the organization’s products while others wanted to move elsewhere.
“Failure was not an option,” Wolak said.
In January, 47 of TIES’s 48 member owners voted to end their joint ownership, with Bloomington schools abstaining from the vote. Sourcewell was waiting in the wings.
The organization signed a letter of intent to explore taking over governance of TIES in January. The transition became official July 2 but may take a month or so to be completed.
Sourcewell will team up with the Metropolitan Educational Cooperative Service Unit in Arden Hills to provide products and services to schools. With Sourcewell taking over governance, TIES members who rely on the organization shouldn’t see any disruption in service.
LIABILITIES HIT DISTRICTS
Ending their ownership in TIES will be a budget hit for its 48 member owners who have to cover some of the organization’s outstanding liabilities such as equipment leases and computer hardware.But it could have been worse. Had Sourcewell not agreed to take over governance, districts could have been on the hook for nearly twice the $20 per pupil they are expected to pay.
Still, $20 per student has an impact. For instance, Lakeville schools will have to fork over $250,000, roughly a quarter of the district’s projected $1 million deficit for the coming school year.
East-metro districts largely maintain that the expense of leaving the collaborative will not impact students or services. There also are other costs.
The Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district, TIES’s second-largest member, will pay about $550,000 to cover its share of TIES liabilities. But Jeffrey Solomon, finance director, says the district will spend nearly another $1 million transitioning to new software providers.
But it is not all bad news for the Rosemount district. Solomon says the money the district saves on purchasing from another provider will cover the transition costs after three years.
“It does have an impact on our cash flow,” Solomon said. “The savings over the three-year period will be a payback after that.”
Other districts have said they expect to have similar savings.
Districts also will save money because they will no longer have to pay a TIES membership fee. That charge recently increased from $3 to $5 per student.
The organization’s real estate is also up for sale. TIES owns offices and a conference center that sits on 3.7 acres in Falcon Heights, which property records show is worth $7.8 million. When the property sells, member districts will save on mortgage payments and could see proceeds from the sale.
PAST STRENGTHS AND STRUGGLES
TIES has come a long way since 1967 when it was created to fill a void in the school technology market. The organization now provides software and other services to more than 200 school districts in Minnesota and across the Upper Midwest.The organization also became a leader in technology training for teachers. Last December, more than 3,000 educators attended the TIES annual conference.
The organization has seen controversy, too. A 2014 audit found widespread financial mismanagement under its former longtime leader Betty Schweizer, who retired from the organization unexpectedly.
The inquiry rocked the organization and new leadership was brought in, but TIES’s reputation never recovered.
The TIES story is a cautionary tale of what happens when government steps in to meet a need the independent market hasn’t. Wolak says that despite TIES’s challenges, the story has a positive conclusion.
“The lesson here is you can reinvent government,” he said.
©2018 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
