Report: Superintendent Bypassed Committee To Award Contract

Documents released after a public records request show that North Carolina's school superintendent bypassed a committee recommendation and awarded a contract to a different company.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports North Carolina is switching from the Amplify program to test K-3 students under the Read To Achieve program to the computer-based Istation program in a three-year, $8.3 million deal.

The documents released Friday showed the Amplify mClass program was the committee's choice. Superintendent Mark Johnson says rankings that favored Amplify were based on "misstatements of fact." The state Department of Public Instruction denies reports that the committee had recommended Amplify.

Johnson spokesman Graham Wilson says the committee's recommendation was bypassed because a whistleblower told DPI that an unidentified committee member didn't disclose a prior business relationship with Amplify.