Love can make things complicated, especially if you’re on the school board and your husband is the head of the school’s custodial union. A bill passed 129-0 by the House April 1 could clear up this situation.
HF2785/SF2653*, sponsored by Sen. Don Betzold (DFL-Fridley) and Rep. Paul Gardner (DFL-Shoreview), would establish a conflict of interest exception for cases when the spouse of a school board member is part of a class of employees contracting with the school board. It now awaits action by the Senate.
The board could use the exception when competitive bids are not required by law and spouses would not benefit more than other members of the group. The spouse would have to abstain from voting on the contract.
Gardner said the bill was the result of a situation that occurred in the Mounds View School District, where a school board member’s husband was the head of the school’s custodial union. The member said she would excuse herself from the vote, but was asked to step down.
“The amended bill simply clarifies the existing statute, which everybody has simply been abiding by for many years,” Gardner said.
Gardner said the bill would also protect the spouses of paraprofessionals, bus drivers and other school employees.
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