Restrictions Public School Districts PPT. - William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

1. Nepotism:
Restrictions in Public
School Districts
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
.

2. What is Nepotism?
“the favoring of relatives or personal friends because of their
relationship rather than because of their abilities (Wiktionary,
2008).”
“nepotism is the showing of favoritism to relatives, based
upon that relationship, rather than on an objective evaluation
of ability or suitability” (Wikipedia,2008).

3. Nepotism Statutes in Texas
• The nepotism laws in Texas are located in
Chapter 573 of the Government Code.
• These laws prohibit a public official from voting
to appoint or to confirm the appointment of an
individual who is related to the public official by
blood or marriage within a prohibited degree.

4. Nepotism Prohibitions in Public
School Districts in Texas
• School board members are primarily restricted
under the statutes because they maintain final
authority to hire/fire teachers, & approve other
contractual relationships.
• These statutes have been created to prevent
family relationships from improperly influencing
public employment relationships and decision
making.

5. Principals and Superintendents
• These laws do not apply to school
principals and under some cases the
superintendent because the authority
to hire and fire employees is vested in
the board of trustees.
• Principals are not considered public
officers for purposes of the nepotism
statutes.

6. Superintendent Prohibitions
• The Education Code currently stipulates
that the board can allocate final authority
to the superintendent (Walsh et al., 2005).
• If the superintendent has final authority
to hire teachers, then the states nepotism
laws do apply to the superintendent’s
relatives.

7. Nepotism: Employees
• The Texas nepotism laws are relevant
to positions compensated directly or
indirectly with public funds,
regardless of the source of those
funds.
• The nepotism laws are also relevant to
those employees paid with funds from
a federal grant.

8. Nepotism Laws: Employee Status
and Contractors
• The nepotism prohibitions equally
relates to full-time employees, part-
time employees, and temporary
employees.
• The nepotism prohibitions also apply to
the hiring of independent contractors
(Walsh) et al., 2005).

9. Board Members: Resignation to
Allow Employment
• A school board member cannot
circumvent the nepotism laws by
abstaining and permitting the remaining
trustees to employ his or her relative.
• A board member can resign so that a
relative may be hired.

10. Resignation to Avoid Nepotism
• In order to avoid state nepotism laws, the
board member must first resign.
• The board members vacant seat must be
replaced by appointment or special election.
• Once the seat is filled, the new board
member must take the oath of office and
then the previous board member’s relative
may be hired (Walsh et al., 2005).

11. Nepotism Exceptions
• The most frequently used exception in accordance
with nepotism statutes is the continuous employment
exception.
• Under this exception, the nepotism prohibition does
not pertain to a district employee who is employed
in the position immediately prior to the election or
appointment of the board member to whom the
person is related in a prohibited degree and that
previous employment is continuous for at least six
months before the board member’s election or 30
days before the board member’s appointment.

12. Consequences for Violating
Nepotism Statutes
• If a public official deliberately or consciously violates
the nepotism prohibition, the public official may be
convicted of a misdemeanor that conveys a possible fine
of not less than $100 or more than $1,000.
• A court convicting a public official of this offense has
to order the official’s immediate removal from public
office.
• When absent a criminal conviction, a public official who
defies the nepotism laws may be removed from public
office in the method set by law (Walsh et al., 2005).

13. Ethical Commitment
• The school board members and district
administrators must have an ethical commitment to
work for the benefit of all students.
• A school board member must take ethical decisions
and behavior seriously.
• School board members set a public example for all
students when exemplifying ethical choices.
• School board members must remove all personal
issues from their agendas in order to address
student needs.

14. Public Trust
• A district should examine any possible perception
of nepotism even when the appointment does not
violate nepotism statutes or district guidelines.
• All employee contracts, vendor contracts, and
administrative promotions should be continuously
scrutinized to maintain public trust.
• District policy and active oversight should go
beyond state statutes in the best effort to
maintain public trust.