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The consulting group advising Memphis schools’ state takeover board has done behind-the-scenes work on similar efforts nationwide — including a Colorado takeover that ended in a lawsuit — and has been the subject of federal and state investigations in Florida.
This summer, private donors paid for Tampa-based firm MGT to provide early guidance on the takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, according to oversight board Chair Billy Orgel. MGT works in government and technology advising worldwide and has cited successful involvement in other state school interventions in Texas and Indiana.
Before an early October meeting of the Memphis takeover board, MGT drafted job descriptions for the takeover board’s executive director, established its rules of governance, and outlined the approval process for MSCS contracts that exceed $50,000.
The full scope of MGT’s work is still unclear, as is the total cost. A six-month contract for $1 million was circulated among the company and individual oversight board members, but it has not been officially approved. MGT did not respond to Chalkbeat’s requests for comment.
That adds another layer of confusion to an already tumultuous battle over district leadership in Memphis. In just the past few months, the state takeover board has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, restored to its power, and then blocked again in local court.
In a preliminary 90-day plan for Memphis, MGT also said it would advise the oversight board to appoint a new superintendent by December. That was one of the first moves in the Houston schools takeover. But firing MSCS Superintendent Roderick Richmond would put the local board on the hook for paying out nearly $500,000 of his three-year contract.
MGT’s role sparked a tense debate between board members at the Oct. 8 meeting after one member questioned if it was legal and ethical to accept the group’s work without a formal contract. After rounds of questions about the funders’ identities, Orgel said that MGT was funded privately, including by pro-takeover Memphis nonprofit Seeding Success, making MGT’s initial work a donation instead of an official partnership.
Seeding Success CEO Mark Sturgis declined to comment for this story. But Britney Thornton, a former Shelby County commissioner and state takeover supporter, said the lack of transparency around MGT’s work raises significant concerns.
“We’re basically locking ourselves into a consulting firm that has not been vetted and has been handpicked from a force that we’re not naming,” she told Chalkbeat. “This was not a selection that had any community input.”
MGT provided similar consulting services during the state takeover of Houston public schools in 2023. Tennessee Republicans have often cited Houston’s takeover as a model for Memphis. There, a consulting firm that was soon after acquired by MGT was also hired by a local nonprofit to help in the early stages of takeover, according to Houston’s state-appointed superintendent at the time. He did not provide further details on MGT’s work.
MGT has previously been at the center of bid-rigging allegations. In 2022, the Florida inspector general began investigating a claim that the state Department of Education had violated contract approval processes by hand-picking MGT for a multimillion-dollar job in Jefferson County.
The Miami Herald reported that MGT was the only company to submit a $2.5 million bid to help transition Jefferson County schools back to local control after years of being privately run. State education officials had been in talks with the firm for a week before opening applications, the Herald reported.
And Trey Traviesa, a former Republican Florida state representative who now serves as MGT’s CEO, had personal connections to the state education commissioner.
MGT didn’t receive the Jefferson County contract. A federal grand jury began investigating the bid-rigging case in 2023, and no results have been publicly released.
Colorado school district found MGT partnership ‘totally ineffective’
One of MGT’s particularly contentious jobs took place in a Colorado school district just outside of Denver, as Chalkbeat reported.
In 2018, Colorado’s state education department ordered Adams 14 to become the first district run by an outside company after years of low student performance. The local school board signed a four-year contract with MGT to the tune of $8.3 million.
Graduation rates and career and technical education opportunities in Adams 14 initially improved, MGT said. But in 2021, the local school district hired a new superintendent who questioned the cost of MGT’s services and ordered an outside evaluation of the company.
That superintendent blocked MGT employees from entering schools for two weeks after outside evaluators said the partnership between MGT and Adams 14 was “totally ineffective” and should end.
Adams 14 lost its accreditation after failing to fix its relationship with MGT. The district sued MGT three months later for allegedly violating open meetings laws and using Adams 14 money to hire subcontractors for work the firm was obligated to do.
MGT decided to end its contract with Adams 14 weeks before the district released results from an external audit that showed the firm spent nearly $500,000 on duplicative subcontractor work. MGT also settled the lawsuit from Adams 14 in May 2023 by paying the district $1.5 million.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.