According to district documents, 22 companies were evaluated through an expedited bidding process, and SummerBio offered the lowest price by far, between $38 and $166 less than other diagnostics companies, including major players like Curative and Fulgent.
The state has paid PerkinElmer about $740 million for testing in the past year. Most of the cost is recouped through federal funds and health insurance payments, according to the state health department. In contrast, LA Unified is projected to spend $350 million for the entire school year, and tests far more people per week than the Valencia lab. The district also will recoup the costs through federal school reopening grants and federal emergency funds.
“Cost comparisons from laboratory to laboratory are difficult because a laboratory’s testing arrangements vary due to differences in the scope of their contracts and the set-up of each laboratory,” health officials said in an emailed statement.
The health department did not answer questions about whether other vendors were considered or whether the department has tried to negotiate a lower rate with PerkinElmer.
SummerBio representatives declined to comment about the Valencia lab but said the company has been in contact with state officials.
Beutner said he notified the governor’s office about LA Unified’s plans as a courtesy, months before the PerkinElmer contract was announced. As the largest district in the state — and second largest in the nation — LA Unified’s contracts are often piggybacked by other districts and government organizations.
“The simplest way to put it is, they [state health officials] weren’t particularly responsive or interested,” Beutner said.
By the time the state laboratory opened in October 2020, LA Unified was well on its way to developing its own internal testing infrastructure. And the state test — which was $55 for schools at the time — was still far more expensive.
Too little, too late — or a lifeline for schools?
Like LA Unified, San Diego Unified School District began developing its testing plans well before the state’s PerkinElmer lab was a resource. The district tests around 25,000 students per week, which is approximately a quarter of its student population.
“Just speaking from our experience, our district, we have always had to move quickly and establish our strategies because, you know, waiting for the state would just have taken too long,” Board President Richard Barrera said.
San Diego Unified conducts a limited amount of pooled testing through the state lab at no cost, but the bulk of its testing is done through a private vendor.
The district initially contracted with UC San Diego to offer tests to students and staff at around $40 per test before moving to another vendor, which charges about $60 per test, when the university could no longer handle its testing needs. At the time, there was little guidance from the state for school testing, which caused headaches for school administrators.
The state was charging schools $55, which made the district’s contract with UC San Diego cheaper. Now, although the school district is paying a private vendor much more than the state’s reduced price of $21, Barrera said it’s too late for the district to switch. The district has already built up capacity through a private vendor and established procedures for getting parental consent, notifying them of test results, training staff and contact tracing.
“The last thing we would want to do now that we’re finally able to scale with private vendors would be to then move away and do something with the state and then have the state’s program end,” he said. “Then we’re back to ramping up from scratch.”
State officials say the laboratory is needed to reach communities with few resources. Barrera said for smaller districts, the state support is likely crucial to keeping kids in classrooms.
Most school testing has been funded by the state through federal grants.
Long Beach Unified has been using the state’s PerkinElmer Valencia lab. But after January, Long Beach administrators say the district will be responsible for paying for testing. At the peak of its efforts, which averaged between 6,000 to 12,000 tests per day, Long Beach officials said other vendors couldn’t handle the volume, although there were some early issues concerning slow results from the state. At the now-reduced cost of $21 for school districts, Long Beach officials said the state laboratory is one of the cheaper testing options.
South of Modesto, in Ceres Unified School District, administrators say they have worked closely with the state’s Valencia lab for molecular PCR testing. Several months ago they had issues with false positives from the laboratory.
“We were informed by the lab that a few tests were positive, but when they retested with another organization they were negative,” said Edith Narayan, the district’s coordinator of student services. There have been no recent issues.