The effectiveness of Star Academy’s educational programs, whose proposed contracting is at the center of the latest scandal in the administration of Gov. Jenniffer González, has produced mixed results, according to The Wall Street Journal. The firm behind it, NOLA Education, belongs to engineer John Alvendia, a donor to West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, and is based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
NOLA usually seeks $1 million contracts to set up, over three years, "a school within the school" to assist classrooms with low performance and other problems. The contracts are usually funded with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money, as was to happen in Puerto Rico. Blanca Medina Díaz, the recently dismissed head of the Family Socioeconomic Development Administration (ADSEF), told the Senate on Wednesday that she faced constant pressure from Family secretary Suzanne Roig to sign a $38.5 million contract with Star Academy.
According to an April Wall Street Journal report, all four of West Virginia’s public school districts had stopped using Star Academy, and one school reported lower English and math achievement among students receiving the firm’s assistance than among other students. Morrisey kept promoting Alvendia’s initiative anyway. The paper reported Alvendia, founder of the for-profit NOLA Education and Star Academy, had donated nearly $42,000 to Morrisey’s campaign and affiliated committees.
In January, Morrisey announced a plan to use up to $16 million in TANF funds to implement Star Academy in 16 more schools; it is unclear whether those contracts were awarded. In Rich Township School District 227, a Chicago suburb in Illinois, Star Academy held a contract for the 2019-2020 school year, but authorities did not renew it.
A district spokesperson said the program did not run long enough to measure its effectiveness.