Months after losing the contract to run a $30 million-a-year Idaho education program, a New York-based vendor will run an embattled $100 million Utah private school choice program.
Last week, the Utah State Board of Education named Odyssey to manage the Utah Fits All Scholarship.
Odyssey’s management contract will be worth $9.7 million over two years, and will go into effect on May 16, Carmen Nesbitt of the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Utah state board members discussed Odyssey’s spotty Idaho record before voting nearly unanimously to award the company its contract, Nesbitt reported.
Created in 2023, the Utah Fits All Scholarship provides education savings accounts of up to $8,000 for private school and homeschool parents. The money can go to private school tuition, among other items. In April, a Utah district judge declared the scholarship program unconstitutional, saying it violated language in the state constitution mandating a free public school system that is open to all students in the state. The program will remain online while the Utah Supreme Court considers the case on appeal.
The switch to Odyssey came two weeks after the district court ruling — and received quick praise from an advocate for Utah’s scholarship program.
“Odyssey has successfully facilitated connections between families and education options in states across the country,” said Robyn Bagley, executive director of Utah Education Fits All, a nonprofit advocacy group. “We have confidence that they’ll be able to step in, keep the program rolling forward, and start addressing the challenges families have been experiencing.”
Odyssey has been growing its national brand, and has experience with other statewide programs, but had an uneven two-year run in Idaho.
In 2022, Idaho state officials awarded Odyssey a $1.5 million contract to operate Empowering Parents, which was then a $50 million-a-year microgrant program to cover out-of-pocket education expenses. It was Odyssey’s first statewide contract anywhere in the nation.
Amidst reports that parents were receiving taxpayer payments to cover improper purchases, the State Board of Education launched an in-house review and Gov. Brad Little ordered an external audit. The outside audit flagged about $41,000 in improper purchases, prompting Little to give a clean bill of health to Empowering Parents, one of his pet education priorities.
Amidst the reviews of purchases, the state also ordered Odyssey to return nearly $479,000 in interest it had collected from the federal funding that bankrolled Empowering Parents. Odyssey repaid Idaho, State Board spokesman Mike Keckler confirmed Thursday.
Nonetheless, Idaho severed its ties with Odyssey in October, essentially rehiring Florida-based vendor ClassWallet to administer its microgrant program. The State Board said Odyssey’s Idaho record had nothing to do with its abrupt decision.
The 2025 Legislature voted to mothball Empowering Parents, cutting off new funding for a program that had been receiving $30 million per year.
