According to a June 10 article by Tia Mitchell of the Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union, Duval County’s school board approved sole source contracts of over $10 million to Scientific Learning, and $1 million to Northwest Evaluation Associates that were championed by Superintendent Joseph Wise. Since then, both firms have paid the superintendent's travel to company-sponsored events.

Mitchell notes that this is not new for the district. “Wise's predecessor, John Fryer, introduced America's Choice to local schools and enjoyed close ties with the parent company's founders. After announcing his retirement in 2005, Fryer was hired by the parent company to launch a new institute for school principals…. At the time, some Duval County officials expressed dismay over the situation and wondered if his judgment pertaining to America's Choice was clouded.

Four issues are not at stake here.

First, Scientific Learning, NWEA, and America’s Choice are fine organizations. Their programs have solid evaluations. They might very well have won their contracts in open competitions.

Second, as fine as these firms are, the decision not to put this work out to bid was arbitrary. Sole source contracting is supposed to be a last resort, when diligent efforts by procurement staff to find competitors fail. There are a number of firms no less qualified to do the work than the ones selected. Aside from personal service contracts, where the need to work with people he or she finds compatible is vital, the sole source option is not supposed to be a vehicle for a superintendent's personal judgment - and certainly not on multi-year district-wide between $1 and 10 million.

Third, so long as Scientific Learning and NWEA have not offered Wise or family members a job, money or any other direct benefit, they have done nothing wrong. Potential buyers of their products and services want to speak with satisfied clients. If bringing the satisfied customers to meet potential clients is a problem, then someone needs to tell the major publishers. This is a standard marketing practice and the new school improvement providers are not about to disarm unilaterally.

Fourth, Wise's actions, and the board's ratifications, are not worthy of censure because the superintendent was rewarded with business travel, as opposed to the kickbacks alleged in the federal indictments of former Prince Georges County Superintendent Andre Hornsby or Dallas Chief Operating Officer (and more recently Detroit Superintendent) William Frederick Coleman III for their sole source decisions. 

Media interest in these matters tends to correlate with individual benefit. But this is only evidence of motivation. Hornsby and Coleman appear to have been motivated by cash. With an average of one business day out of five spent on business travel since he took office eighteen months ago, and a similar pattern while he headed the Christiana, Delaware schools, it's entirely plausible that Wise's judgment was influenced by opportunities to improve his national profile. And Wise’s approach does sit atop the slippery slope leading to the corruption that now has former Hornsby and Coleman facing criminal charges.

Nevertheless, the focus here should be on the damage done. The harm of unnecessary sole source contracting is measured by the lost opportunity for Duval, Prince Georges and Dallas to obtain products and services that offer the best fit for their districts, the most services and the lowest price. This opportunity cost bears no relationship to whatever benefits, Wise, Hornsby and Coleman might have received, or however they might have valued those benefits. The reason all three fall short of ethical standards is that whatever the payoff in pushing their favored contracts, they breached their duties of loyalty to their districts.

Here is where an ethical line should be recognized. The use of taxpayer funds, the needs of children, and the viability of programs that require enthusiastic educator engagement simply cannot be left to the judgment of one person. Wise may be a great manager otherwise, but he is simply not qualified to decide unilaterally whether any firm offers Duval public schools the best fit, price or quality of service. Nor is he able to guarantee these to the district through bilateral negotiations. Even if Scientific Learning and NWEA won their competitions, it is entirely likely that educators would be more supportive for having greater input into the decision, students would have enjoyed enhanced services, and taxpayers would be paying less. It is the height of arrogance to say otherwise. And it is all too short a jump from this arrogance of special knowledge to an atmosphere that encourages bribery, and the kind arrogance that takes it.

In the end, it’s the Duval school board that bears responsibility for the oppotunity cost of the sole source contracts. Wise argues that before he was hired in 2006, he made clear to the board his support for these firms’ products and his intent to bring them to Duval County schools. Wise apparently telegraphed his intent to pursue these business relationships, the board allowed him to do so without putting the contracts out to bid, and then ratified the sole source contracts. Deferring to the superintendent, particularly after the experience with Fryer and America’s Choice, only adds insult to teachers', students' and taxpayers' injuries. It is an abdication of the board’s oversight responsibility, a public trust voters have every reason to consider broken.

If public educators hope to use the limited taxpayer resources available to them wisely, they'll have to make sure that sole source contracting is reserved for the few times it is really justified, rather than accepting it as some kind of standard operating practice.