The president of a software company whose product is used by half of Wisconsin's school districts says he will move out of the state if a decision granting a contract to a competitor from Minnesota isn't reversed. Skyward Incorporated employs 220 people in Stevens Point and Madison at an average salary of more than $70,000 a year, according to the board chairman, Jim King. His company currently provides management software that tracks grades and attendance in more than half of the state's school districts. But the Wisconsin Department of Administration on Friday awarded the Student Information System contract to a Minnesota competitor, Infinite Campus. Jim King says he's appealing the decision. "We have put together a full page ad that we are going to run in the major newspapers across the state of Wisconsin soliciting support from all the customers we have around the state." It will cost some of those school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars to switch to the out-of-state software. He says he expects their administrators to support his appeal, and he is threatening to move Skyward and its good paying jobs out of Wisconsin if they don't. "We fully expect that they're going to support us like you won't believe. And if they don't, then I'm going to pack my bags and I'm going to go." State Senator Julie Lassa of Stevens Point has sent a letter to Governor Walker protesting the decision, "I and other legislators are calling on Governor Walker to halt the process in its tracks, the procurement process, that there be an independent investigation." As of late Wednesday afternoon, Senator Lassa and Skyward Chairman Jim King both say they had not yet heard from the governor.
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