Memphis-Shelby County Schools is poised to renew contracts tonight with two of its education service providers, including one that the district is battling in court.¶
The district is recommending that board members renew contracts with PowerSchool and i-Ready, two education technology companies, for the foreseeable future.¶
This would be the second consecutive year the district has renewed its contract with PowerSchool since it suffered a widespread data breach in 2024, in which hackers successfully coaxed the company into paying a ransom to have the information returned. The hackers asked for $2.85 million in Bitcoin, though it is unknown if that is what the company paid. The district is actively suing PowerSchool over the incident.¶
What is PowerSchool?
PowerSchool is a cloud-based software platform that K-12 schools and districts use on a contract basis to manage students’ data and academic information, as well as administrative procedures. According to its website, PowerSchool claims to sell various products that “span the full K-12 ecosystem in a single, connected system, unifying student information, learning, family engagement, HR, finance, and analytics.”¶
The Lawsuit
After the breach, MSCS joined several districts in suing PowerSchool. MSCS accused PowerSchool of failing to contact each person whose data was compromised. The company has more than 60 million users and is the most prominent student information system in North America. It is estimated that about 500,000 current and former Memphis students and school employees had their personal information exposed.¶
While some parents have argued that PowerSchool does not produce adequate academic results, MSCS officials have defended retaining the company’s services, stating that finding a suitable replacement would be extremely difficult.¶
