It was a banner headline: Tennessee "cuts ties" with its TNReady testing contractor after repeated delays and failed attempts to administer the test online - or even with paper and pencil.
Testing our students online is a good plan. But it has to work, and state officials are probably right to drop the $108 million dollar contract with Measurement Inc. before we get any deeper than the $1.6 million we've already paid.
But this isn't the first time Tennessee has had contractor trouble with new programs.
Remember TEDS, the Tennessee Eligibility Determination System that was to result in a new TennCare application website? That was a $35.7 million contract with Northrop Grumman that started in December 2012 and still was not ready in early 2015 when the headline read: "State officials decide to cut ties with TennCare computer vendor."
Six months later, state officials said they also were overhauling an "unhelpful" helpline that was supposed to offer a human connection to help people wade through the complexities of getting help with TennCare. This time, we were terminating a $31 million contract with Cognosante LLC, and spending another $56 million for a do-over contract with Automated Health Systems.
It seems to be a pattern of the Haslam administration, and one that perhaps should give taxpayers and state leaders pause as this administration pushes toward privatization of state property management.
Under the governor's plan, the 10 percent of state properties now privately managed would be expanded to about 90 percent. The holdings would include colleges, state prisons, parks, state hospitals, National Guard armories and more. The administration says it could save the state some $36 million, mostly in higher education. Critics - including some in higher education - have challenged that figure and asked for independent verification. The verification has been promised but has not materialized. Meanwhile, the state is taking bids on management contracts.
Properties already involved in the first phase of Haslam's plan resulted in the loss of jobs, including some at the Chattanooga State Office Building and nearby James R. Mapp Building. Haslam has said the expansion won't result in anyone losing jobs or seeing pay or benefits reduced - unlike the first go round.
Where is the promised independent verification?