This seems straightforward enough.
Houston school board members can no longer accept unlimited contributions from technology vendors after federal regulators alleged HISD violated competitive bidding and gift-giving rules.
The new policy, which board members discussed Thursday, relates to the federal E-rate program, which allows school districts to apply for funds for Internet access, wiring and other technology upgrades.
Under a legal settlement with the federal government, which HISD Superintendent Terry Grier signed in March, an HISD board member now must abstain from voting on E-rate contracts if he or she has received more than $500 a year in campaign contributions from E-rate vendors.
Richard Patton, HISD’s new E-rate compliance officer, said Thursday that he is proposing, in consultation with board president Greg Meyers, a stricter policy that prohibits board members from knowingly accepting any contributions from E-rate vendors.
“We want to show good faith in letting the government know that we take this as a serious matter,” Meyers said.
The only consequence listed in the policy for board members who decide to accept the donations anyway is that they cannot vote on E-rate contracts if their total donations from E-rate vendors exceed $500 a year.
I didn’t follow the story that led to this policy, which involved a tech vendor that was ultimately convicted of bribery and money laundering charges related to Dallas ISD; it’s summarized in this article. This policy strikes me as just plain common sense and the surest way to avoid the appearance of impropriety. The main question I have is what sanctions are available to a Trustee who exceeds the contribution limit and then votes on a contract anyway. I’d also suggest that the exception for contributions from the spouse or a relative of a contractor is a loophole that someone is going to exploit in a way that we don’t like some day. I’d like to see some discussion of that before the board votes on this.