Trust school boards to avoid conflicts of interest

In an anti-educator witch hunt, a legislative committee is trying to identify school board members whose spouses or relatives work for school districts anywhere in the state or who do business with a district or the state – as if a bill to keep such people off local boards hadn’t been justifiably criticized and killed early this year. Local boards already use recusal to deal with potential conflicts of interest. Such sweeping new restrictions on board membership would be a big problem, especially in rural districts. This is more Statehouse meddling in local matters. It’s also hypocritical, given how little regard the Legislature shows for its own conflicts of interest in committee assignments and otherwise. – Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 7:05 PM.