| Advisory opinion request regarding whether the employees of a partner to a cooperative endeavor agreement with a charter school may serve as members of the charter school board. |
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The Discovery Health Sciences Academy ("Discovery") is a charter school in Jefferson Parish. Discovery has a wait list with over 1,000 families seeking admission to the school. In order to meet this demand, Discovery intends to open a new campus to reach more students. Discovery's new campus will be located in Shrewsbury, which is an economically distressed neighborhood near the Ochsner Medical Center ("Ochsner"). Ochsner has a history of partnering with the neighborhood to help the community.
Ochsner Health System is Louisiana's largest non-profit, academic, healthcare system. Ochsner intends to invest $10.4 million to finance and manage the construction of the new Discovery school campus; therefore, there will be no cost to the Jefferson Parish School Board. Ochsner will also assist in programs to enhance the educational experience for students in Discovery's health sciences curriculum.
In furtherance of its commitment to the success of the school, employees of Ochsner seek to serve as members of the Discovery Charter School Board. Through this representation on the school board, Ochsner will be able to provide employees possessing expertise that would be particularly useful to a school with a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) focus. The Ochsner employee board members would be salaried; however, their compensation would not be affected by their service on the Discovery school board or by the partnership between Ochsner and Discovery.
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La. R.S. 42:1111A prohibits a public employee from receiving anything of economic value, other than compensation and benefits from the governmental entity to which he is duly entitled, for the performance of the duties and responsibilities of his office or position.
La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) provides that no public servant and no legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty-five percent, shall receive any thing of economic value for or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any person during his public service unless such services are: (d) Neither performed for nor compensated by any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably should know that such person has or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public servant's agency; conducts operations or activities which are regulated by the public employee's agency; or has substantial economic interests which may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the public employee's official duty.
La. R.S. 42:1111E(1) provides that no public servant, and no legal entity of which such public servant is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee, or in which such public servant has a substantial economic interest, shall receive or agree to receive any thing of economic value for assisting a person in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction, with the agency of such public servant.
La. R.S. 17:3991.1 provides that a charter school may enter into a partnership with a non-profit corporation and the corporation must provide property upon which a school can be built, a school building, major renovations to existing school buildings, other capital projects, or major investments in technology. In exchange, this provision allows the charter school to provide enrollment preferences for the children of the partner's employees as well as representation on the charter school's governing board.
La. R.S. 42:1124.3 requires persons holding a public office who represent a voting district having a population of less than 5,000 and each member of the governing authority or management board of a charter school created pursuant to Chapter 42 of Title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 to file a financial disclosure statement on or before May 15th of each year during which the person holds office and the year following termination of the holding of such office.
La. R.S. 42:1114 provides that each public servant and each member of his immediate family who derives anything of economic value, directly, through any transaction involving the agency of such public servant or who derives any thing of economic value of which he may be reasonably expected to know through a person which (1) is regulated by the agency of such public servant, or (2) has bid on or entered into or is in any way financially interested in any contract, subcontract, or any transaction under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant shall disclose certain information as set forth in Section 1114.
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Adopt proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Tracy Barker |
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