Five members of a seven-person independent TUSD committee either work for the district, serve on the Governing Board or have a spouse employed by the district.
The committee was formed to help strengthen TUSD’s internal financial controls and provide greater transparency.
Until a rule change in March, family members of TUSD employees were not allowed to serve on the advisory committee. Now, only family members of vendors who contract with the district are barred.
The committee serves in an advisory capacity only, giving advice and recommendations to the Governing Board on internal and external audit functions. Part of its job, however, is to provide an outlet for anonymous reporting of financial wrongdoing within the district.
The changes to its charter were prompted by TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez. He said it was done in part to ensure that those who serve on district committees have a stake in what happens in Tucson’s largest school district.
The move resulted in the removal of two members who looked critically at the district’s financial operations and performance but lived outside its boundaries.
What wasn’t clear in the change was that language prohibiting immediate family members of district employees from serving on the committee was going to be removed.
Now in its place is a line that reads: “An individual may not serve on the Audit Committee if they are immediate or close family members of an individual who is an employee or officer or contractor who provides services to the district.”
Sanchez said the changes to the charter were also made in an effort to align the board’s three committees — technology, employee benefits and audit.
“The board was trying to clean up the three committees so they all have ad-hoc, nonvoting board members, all three don’t disallow someone who has a spouse, and all three provide expertise but ultimately nothing happens unless the board votes on it,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the fact that the committees receive anonymous tips about wrongdoing within the district is of no concern. That’s because no single committee member has the power to withhold that information from the committee or the Governing Board.
If one of those accusations involved a department or person related to a committee member, that member could recuse themselves from the discussion, Sanchez said.
“I don’t believe the fact that these three members have spouses in the district diminishes their insight as to what a good financial practice is,” he said. “I would believe they want to ensure that there are good financial practices because the last thing you want is for something you’re a volunteer member of to be mismanaged.”
Sanchez added that the Governing Board is ultimately in charge of the audit committee, and it will have to clarify its intent.
TUSD Governing Board President Adelita Grijalva declined to comment, saying the information that has been revealed regarding the relationships was discussed during executive session and it is illegal under state law to disclose that. Grijalva has requested that the executive session “leak” be reported to the state Attorney General’s Office.
TUSD says the issue remains under review, but that the results of its probe might not be disclosed to the public because it might be confidential under attorney-client privilege.
The ambiguity in the charter was enough for recently appointed member Ricky Hernandez to question whether it applied to him. His wife and a sibling both work for TUSD.
Hernandez, however, was told by TUSD legal counsel that it did not.
The rule sought to protect against nepotism when it comes to purchasing, according to TUSD spokeswoman Stefanie Boe.
Hernandez, the deputy superintendent for Pima County schools, isn’t alone in having familial connections in TUSD.
Community members Todd Anderson and Bill Tong have spouses employed by TUSD, though Tong’s wife was hired after his appointment to the committee. Tong, vice president of Alliance Bank of Arizona, could not be reached for comment.
Anderson has offered to step down from the seat to save the committee’s reputation, but the district is not entertaining the offer.
“My sole motivation is to help the district,” he said. “If this is going to cause people grief, then that’s the last thing in the world that I want.”
Anderson previously worked as a TUSD soccer coach. He resigned from the paid position as required by the charter to serve in a volunteer capacity on the committee.
Both Hernandez and Anderson say they can serve in a watchdog role despite their ties to TUSD.
“I made it very clear to everybody involved that if they were looking for somebody to be a yes man, I’m not their guy,” said Anderson, managing partner of Anderson Financial Group. “My reputation is too important within the community to sacrifice my integrity based on trying to play favoritism to anybody.”
Hernandez added that the committee has not done anything of consequence that would prevent him from being impartial. If something arose in the future, he said, he’d have no problem disclosing the conflict of interest.
Still, Hernandez has asked that the district clarify what he calls a “misinterpretation issue.”
“This is creating more questions than what should be out there, calling into question the integrity of the audit committee itself,” Hernandez said.
