El Paso school trustees may have no choice but to make finances public

UPDATE: 09/15/14 11:06 P.M. YISD Trustee Marty Reyes confirms she plans on serving her full term.

A new law targeting school boards only in El Paso county will go into effect in three months. This January, all school board trustees will have to make all their financial activity public. The move comes after numerous corruption convictions involving members of school boards.

The goal is to bring to light any possible conflicts of interest. Accountability and transparency are the goals, according to State Rep. Marisa Marquez, who sponsored the bill. At least three school boards in El Paso oppose the law, and some members feel so strongly, they may resign before their term is up.

“It’s definitely going to be an intrusion into the trustees privacy,” said YISD Board President Patricia Torres McLean.

McLean, a former accountant and banker, has said House Bill 343 will stop knowledgeable, qualified people from running for a board position.

“People that would be qualified to sit on this board are going to be business people, hopefully attorneys, CPA’s,” McLean said.

The 25-page disclosure form requires each trustee to declare sources of income, and to list stocks, bonds and real estate owned, including those of their spouse and dependent children.

“And school board members are volunteers,” McLean said. “So we’re volunteering a massive amount of time, spending our own money, our own gas, spending all this time, and now in addition to that we’re going to ask people to put out all your financial information?”

State Sen. Jose Rodriguez notes at least 10 people have pleaded guilty to either bribing or taking bribes in El Paso county’s three largest school districts. His web page mentions the millions trustees manage, and said, “I can find no legitimate reason that school board members should be held to a lower standard than City Council Members, County Commissioners, or State Representatives and Senators.”

The law will sunset in 2019.

“How would this law have kept the corrupt actions from taking place?” McLean said. “Anybody that’s going to take a bribe is not going to put it on the financial statement.”

Trustees who don’t comply face fines up to $10,000 and six months in jail.

“A big concern is that we may lose the best of our board members,” McLean said.

The YISD board has some prominent people, including Marty Reyes. She’s the wife of Chuy Reyes, general manager of Water Improvement District #1, and sister-in-law of former Congressman Silvestre Reyes.

“Mrs. Reyes has 14 years serving on the school board so not only is she a previous business owner, but she has all this history and all this knowledge of what this school board had done,” McLean said.

Some trustees have hinted they would rather resign than disclose. McLean is not one of them. But quitting may not resolve their concerns. Marquez said the state may make them file the document anyway to compare their past voting record against possible conflicts of interest.

“All this is going to do in my mind is dissuade people from becoming board members and it’s ultimately going to hurt the children we’re trying to help,” McLean said.

Trustee Ana Duenez, Connie Woodruff, Shane Haggerty, Marty Reyes and Paul Pearson all confirm to me no they are not resigning.

Deby Lewis did not respond.

County Attorney Jo Ann Bernal asked the Texas Attorney General to weigh in on whether a board member who resigns would still have to disclose financial information. His answer, expected before October 6th.