At the urging of the Legislature, the Louisiana Board of Ethics has weighed in on whether employees of public charter schools operated by for-profit corporations as well as employees of for-profit companies contracted to work within traditional public schools are considered “public employees,” meaning they are subject to the state’s Code of Ethics. In an opinion released this week, the board says yes, they are public employees.
The Board of Ethics took up the issue after the passage in the recent legislative session of Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 by Baton Rouge Democratic Sen. Edwin Murray. According to the resolution, “employees at these public charter schools are being informed by their private employers that they are not public employees and not subject to the provisions of the Code of Governmental Ethics” and that “a review of the records of the Louisiana Ethics Administration revealed that for the calendar year 2014, a number of charter school employees did not obtain the mandatory training, evidencing confusion as to whether those employees are public servants ...”
In draft opinion, Ethics Administrator Kathleen Allen informed Murray that “officers and employees of charter schools as well as employees of for-profit companies that have a contract at a traditional public school are required to comply with all applicable provisions of the Code ...” That requirement, Allen continued, includes a mandatory annual hour of training session on the Code of Ethics.
Read the opinion here.