“Study Edge has the proprietary solution for what ails the New York City public school system’s lagging algebra test scores, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and remote-learning requirements,” the company said in the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The department put “internal squabbling above the educational needs of the city’s student population, despite its dire and immediate need to provide remote learning,” the suit says.
Study Edge and department officials were at odds almost immediately after reaching an agreement in 2016. The company agreed to charge the city licensing fees for the software based on how many students used it. The firm said it spent more than $600,000 developing a custom learning program for New York, with the understanding the program could eventually reach about 120,000 students enrolled in Algebra 1 across the city.
But, the lawsuit said, the Department of Education limited which students qualified to use the software—even when some teachers requested access. In 2018 a department official told the company it would budget for about 5,765 student licenses—despite the contract guaranteeing at least 15,000 students would have access to the program each school year.
After months in which Study Edge complained that the school system was breaking the terms of the agreement, the company said, it was told by phone last September that its contract would no longer be funded.
The Department of Education did not have a response to the lawsuit as of early Wednesday afternoon. City schools are scheduled to return to in-person learning this semester, but Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday pushed back the reopening date to Sept. 21.
The city does have the right to break off contracts when funds are no longer available, the lawsuit acknowledges. But, Study Edge said, the city needed to give at least 30 days’ notice and allow for a dispute-resolution meeting, which never happened, according to the lawsuit. Moreover, the city still owed about $407,000 to Study Edge for the previous school year.
Algebra Nation provides online workbooks and videos that are meant to supplement eighth- and ninth-grade Algebra 1 courses.
Study Edge, a startup founded in 2011, partnered with the University of Florida to launch the software in 2015. The program is used in Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.
In March the company sent a notice to the city Department of Education that it planned to file a claim for the money. The school system paid Study Edge the next day, but only about $360,000, according to the documents.
Study Edge is asking the court to recognize at least the $50,000 in damages, plus damages for violating the contract’s terms.
