Dive Brief:
- A state audit indicates that potential conflicts of interest may have influenced the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's decision to enter a contract with the Cities For Education Entrepreneurship Trust.
- The department contracted CEE-Trust for $385,000 — three times the cost of a competing firm from Massachusetts — to help it create an improvement plan for Kansas City Public Schools.
- The money to pay CEE-Trust did not come from the government, but rather from the Kauffman Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation — one of which is a member of CEE-Trust.
Dive Insight:
A recap: A foundation pays CEE-Trust while also being a member of CEE-Trust. While this may be okay in the world of private businesses, what complicates the issue is the fact that the project revolves around improving Kansas City Schools, a public institution. This scenario, like many others we've seen this year, reads with an oligarchic taint as private dollars dictate the direction of public education without ever having to get the public's approval.
In addition to this potential conflict of interest, the audit also found that Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro had been chatting with CEE-Trust consultants for months before a contract was signed and that the other consultant competing for the project had an asking price that was a third of CEE-Trust's.
While it may seem unjust that a private foundation is dictating the direction of Kansas City Schools, just because it has the money and power to do so, it technically may not be a legal issue — especially since the funds fronting the money are not public. The state's education department is latching onto this excuse, as it released a one-page statement saying, "Given that the study involved the use of no state or federal monies, both the Department and the State Board of Education were challenged as to the appropriate method of identifying the service provider." This response essentially indicates that the department was confused and had to rely on the foundations for guidance.
Should we throw one more potential conflict of interest into the mix? Peter Herschend, president of the state Board of Education, donated $25,000 to Missouri Auditor Thomas Schweich's re-election campaign 10 days after Schweich announced plans to review the CEE-Trust contract. Naturally, when this came to light, Schweich had to excuse himself from the audit process.