The impact has created a fundamental change within the district, moving away from conversations grounded in "this is the way it's always been done" toward "this doesn't seem to work, let's find out why."

In an effort to save money and increase student achievement, the Elmore County Public School System has partnered with Govtech Fund portfolio company Glimpse to analyze what the district is purchasing and the effectiveness of those purchases.

“There’s the accounting department that works really hard to make sure money is in compliance. Then there’s the other departments that work on what’s best for students,” Nicole Pezent, Glimpse co-founder, said. By analyzing both, districts can see data on the education return on investment.

In one Glimpse study of 275 schools, the company found 67% of their educational program licenses were going unused in the 2017-2018 school year — accounting for the biggest source of wasted money in K-12 districts.

Elmore County’s Amy Harrison said the impact has created a fundamental change within the district, moving away from conversations grounded in “this is the way it’s always been done” toward “this doesn’t seem to work, let’s find out why.”