Citing concerns about adhering to state procurement law, the Española School Board voted July 23 to delay handing over a $308,696 federal grant to the non-profit organization Hands Across Cultures.
“Before we approve this, I have some concerns that I think the Board should seriously look at,” Board member Leonard Valerio said. “I want to make sure that we’re following procurement law before proceeding with an agreement with Hands Across Cultures, which is a private corporation.”
Valerio suggested delaying approval of the contract until Wednesday (8/6), to allow the Board time to seek legal advice. Board Vice President Floyd Archuleta and member Andrew Chavez, both of whom sit on Hands Across Culture’s board of directors, abstained from the vote.
The District received the grant, which would fund alcohol abuse prevention programs in secondary schools, from the federal Education Department in late May. The money is currently sitting in a District fund awaiting disbursement.
Federal guidelines allow the District to hire a contractor, such as Hands Across Cultures, to oversee the grant, but they require the District to select that contractor according to state procurement law. Procurement law requires the District to solicit competitive bids for professional-service contracts above $50,000. The contract with Hands Across Cultures would total more than six times that amount, and despite Superintendent David Cockerham’s assurances that the District would follow grant guidelines “to the letter,” administrators nonetheless skirted the bid process and presented the contract to the Board for immediate approval.
Cockerham, who was unable to attend last week’s meeting, said he thought the Board was only voting to accept the grant itself. If a professional-services agreement has been drawn up, he hasn’t seen it, Cockerham said.
Cockerham said the Board did exactly what he always advises — if in doubt, table the motion. Valerio, Board President Joe Romero and Secretary Joann Salazar all voted in favor of waiting. But Romero and Salazar both praised the La Puebla-based non-profit.
“Personally, I hope that Hands Across Cultures gets the bid if we are required to go for bid,” Romero said. “I think it’s a wonderful grant; we certainly can use it.”
Too Much Waiting?
Archuleta noted before the vote that he supported Valerio’s motion, though both he and Chavez objected to waiting, citing concerns that waiting two weeks before awarding the contract could derail the alcohol abuse program.
Special Education Director Pat Lopez, who sat in during that meeting for the absent Cockerham, proposed a solution that would have addressed all Board members’ concerns. Lopez suggested that Title One Director Evelyn Maruska, who oversees federal funding, could begin purchasing materials and making other preparations so as not to delay the project. The Board could decide after getting legal advice who would oversee the grant from there on, Lopez said.
But the Board ignored Lopez’s proposal; Salazar said a legal opinion should arrive shortly and from there the District will move forward.
If the Board hands over the grant to Hands Across Cultures without going to bid, both parties would have successfully circumvented federal grant guidelines stating only school districts could apply for and receive the grant.
Hands Across Cultures employee Michael Chavez wrote the grant, and while the grant application was submitted under the District’s name, a Department web site lists Chavez as the District’s administrator for the grant.
Guidelines allow outside agencies, such as Hands Across Cultures, to help the District write the grant, but emphasize that the agency’s “participation in the application development process should not be presumed to result in the receipt of a contract for work under the project if a grant is awarded.” Hands Across Cultures employee Diego Lopez attended the meeting, reading a letter from Director Harry Montoya that characterized a July 17 SUN report about the grant as “false,” “misleading” and part of an alleged targeted campaign against Montoya and the non-profit. The letter did not specify which statements were false.