Even before the Texas Legislature finally passed its private school voucher bill earlier this year, the race was on among the handful of firms in the burgeoning voucher vendor sector to win the lucrative contract to launch and administer what will be the largest program of its kind in the nation.
That race is now over as the Texas Comptroller last month awarded the job to a New York firm called Odyssey. In winning the bid, and in its plans to ramp up the program, Odyssey cultivated close ties to the political world of Governor Greg Abbott.
One of the top outfits in the voucher vendor game, Odyssey is backed with major venture capitalist investments. As the Texas Observer previously reported, Odyssey and others pushed hard to win the Texas contract, essentially the industry’s holy grail.
Awarding the contract to the private administrator of the program—known as a certified educational assistance organization (CEAO)—marks a key milestone in the voucher rollout as the comptroller delegates control of almost every facet of the program, from handling applications and approvals for students to accepting the private schools and other vendors eligible to participate, plus controlling the flow of state money to and fro. Odyssey will also be in charge of the marketing and PR involved with promoting and defending the program, which the state has dubbed “Texas Education Freedom Accounts.””
Voucher funds will be eligible to be used not only for participating private schools’ tuition and homeschooling but also for tutoring services and an array of other educational materials.
Abbott staked much of his hard-earned political capital, and campaign cash, on getting the school voucher program over the finish line. In the 2024 Republican primaries, he used his political war chest to oust several anti-voucher incumbents who’d previously blocked passage in the Texas House. This effort was aided by a record $6 million in campaign contributions from Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania billionaire and voucher advocate.
During the legislative session, Odyssey tapped lobbyist Luis Saenz, who was previously Abbott’s longtime chief of staff, to work on its behalf as the governor worked to pass the bill (It also made Daniel Warner, ex-Speaker Dade Phelan’s education policy advisor, its state director.)
For PR, Odyssey will also turn to Abbott allies, according to its bid proposal, which the Observer obtained under state open records law: Odyssey hired the Austin firm Vianovo to run public relations for the program, with a team that includes John Wittman, Abbott’s former communications director, and Matthew Hirsch, Abbott’s ex-deputy chief of staff.
“Vianovo will serve as the lead for proactive media engagement across Texas, building relationships with journalists, pitching positive stories about the Program, and coordinating interviews with Comptroller staff, participating families, school leaders, vendors and providers,” the proposal states. It would also handle any turbulence that may emerge. “In the event of controversy or misinformation, Vianovo will provide crisis communications strategy, issue rapid response guidance, and ensure a consistent, aligned message across stakeholders.”
In rolling out the program, Odyssey said in its bid proposal that it plans to partner with a long list of “outside stakeholders” to “raise awareness” of private school vouchers in Texas. Those entities include powerful conservative organizations: the American Federation of Children, Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, the Texas Home School Coalition, and Texas Values Action. Those groups provided considerable political support to Abbott as he campaigned for legislative support around vouchers over the past two years.
Odyssey’s contract will cost the state a total of $26 million for 2026 and 2027 with an option to extend for two more years beyond that, as well as $2 million a year for a marketing campaign. The law stipulates that the state can pay such vendors, or CEAOs, up to 5 percent of the biennial funding, which is currently $1 billion. The ceiling for the contract value could dramatically increase in the future as the program’s costs are projected to jump to around $5 billion by the end of the decade.
Odyssey’s bid was the lowest, according to the Houston Chronicle, compared with $40 million from Classwallet and $50 million from StudentFirst Technologies. The comptroller also graded Odyssey higher than those two competitors on its qualifications, performance in other states, and plan to implement the program in Texas, per the Chronicle.
The New York technology firm has become one of the most popular players in its rapidly growing niche market. Odyssey was founded in 2021 by Joseph Connor, who had already made a career in school privatization as a lawyer, consultant, and founder of a “microschools” company. Connor also wrote an amicus brief for a critical 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that state-funded private school vouchers did not equate to religious discrimination.
As the Texas Tribune has reported, Odyssey also won a $500,000 contest for education innovation founded by Yass and his wife. In response to the prize, Connor celebrated the Yass family for launching “an incredible movement to push for school choice and education freedom nationwide.”
Odyssey pitched itself to Texas as the only vendor capable of providing a fully automated system to administer all facets of the program. “From application to eligibility and funding to spending, our system removes friction and delivers real-time support. As the pioneer in the space, and still the only provider able to verify identity and deliver eligibility determinations in seconds, we’ve demonstrated how automation can expand access while ensuring integrity,” Connor wrote in the bid proposal.
Critics have pointed to issues that Odyssey has had in running similar voucher programs in other states.
“Given Odyssey’s track record of operational mismanagement and misuse of state funds in much smaller voucher programs, Texans should sound the alarm about the Comptroller’s decision to entrust Odyssey with $1 billion of our taxpayer dollars and the educational outcomes of our children,” said Maggie Stern of the public education advocacy group Our Schools Our Democracy in a statement last month. “We urge the Comptroller to ensure that discretionary information is included in a thorough and public annual audit on how Odyssey manages Texas’ voucher program.”
The company’s work on other state voucher programs has been met with complaints. In 2022, Odyssey won its first statewide contract in Idaho to run that state’s voucher-like program. As Idaho Education News reported, the State Board of Education identified $180,000 in ineligible purchases under the program, though a later audit identified a smaller dollar amount and the governor gave “the program a clean bill of health,” the Idaho outlet reported. Odyssey also had to turn over interest it had earned from holding program funds in a bank account. In Iowa, the state auditor found the company’s contract increased beyond its initial cost to account for transaction fees.
The contract stipulates that Odyssey could face penalties if it does not meet certain performance standards, such as keeping its online platforms running and promptly processing transactions.
In a letter to the Texas Attorney General, Odyssey argued against release of certain materials related to its bid that it deemed confidential. “Given the importance of government contracts in this business segment, any insight into the process, and specifically how to win a government contract has significant commercial value,” the company wrote.
Odyssey also hired a group called Outschool.org to assist with what it called “grassroots” marketing of the program—with an emphasis on homeschooling families, who its bid pointed out are expected to make up a large share of program participants and “face distinct barriers” including “concerns over government interference, regulatory confusion, and lack of support.” Odyssey and Outschool would partner with state home school groups, including the Texas Home School Coalition, as well as TikTok influencers to “deliver program information from trusted voices.” Steel Digital Studios was also hired as a subcontractor for Odyssey, charged with heading up its advertising services. That Austin firm has previously done work with Texas state agencies and universities, in addition to local school districts.
The next phase in the voucher rollout—applications open in February 2026—will be for Odyssey to set up an online “marketplace” of approved private schools, along with other education vendors to provide eligible services like tutoring, online learning, and curriculum material. Odyssey will be fully in charge of that marketplace, vetting each potential vendor and either providing its recommendations to the comptroller or, if the state chooses, making unilateral decisions on vendors.
Since signing the vouchers bill into law, Abbott has ensured his influence will extend through the implementation of the program—including with the bending of state law to make state Senator and key political ally Kelly Hancock the acting comptroller. (Hancock also named Mary Katherine Stout as the state’s voucher program director; Stout previously served as Governor Rick Perry’s budget director and as a vice president of TPPF.)
In an emailed statement, an Odyssey spokesperson told the Observer: “Like any company doing business in and with the State of Texas, Odyssey partners with the best experts available who can help administer the program and ensure that all eligible Texas families have the resources they need to access Texas Education Freedom Accounts. Odyssey is proud to have been the top-scoring company in a competitive bidding process.”
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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