As you may be aware, at the last public meeting of the Board of Trustees on Tuesday, April 20, two trustees declared a pecuniary interest related to items on the agenda and recused themselves from debate and the vote. Trustee Bazinet, who is married to a teacher, declared her pecuniary interest in regard to Topic 6.3 Resource Allocation to Schools - Early Spring Staffing (2011-12 Operating Budget). Trustee Taylor, who is the parent of an elementary aged student, declared her pecuniary interest in regards to both Topic 6.3 Resource Allocation to Schools - Early Spring Staffing (2011-12 Operating Budget) and Topic 9.2.1 2011/2012 Student Fees. Confusion around this issue arose, and the board has posted a press release on its cite to add clarity:
STATEMENT REGARDING PECUNIARY INTEREST
Following the public meeting of the Calgary Board of Education’s Board of Trustees on April 19, there have been questions about “pecuniary” conflict of interest and the legal implications for individual trustees. Sections 80 to 86 of the Alberta School Act deal directly with conflict of interest.
The decision to declare a conflict of interest falls to individual trustees. It is a personal decision and a personal declaration related to specific matters before a board. No one else can make that declaration for a trustee. The individual responsibility of trustees related to such conflicts of interest is explicit in Section 83(1) of the School Act:
Disclosure of pecuniary interest
83(1) When a trustee has a pecuniary interest in a matter before the board, any committee of the board or any commission, committee or agency to which the trustee is appointed as a representative of the board, the trustee shall, if present,
(a) disclose the general nature of the pecuniary interest prior to any discussion of the matter,
(b) abstain from voting on any question relating to the matter,
(c) subject to subsection (3), abstain from discussing the matter, and
(d) subject to subsections (2) and (3), leave the room in which the meeting is being held until the discussion and voting on the matter are concluded.
Given the personal nature and potential implications related to conflict of interest, individual trustees always have the option to engage personal, legal counsel, in addition to the legal orientation provided to all Trustees when they are elected to the Board.
If a trustee alerts the Board Chair to the existence of a conflict ahead of time, there are options to present matters that enable trustees to participate in decision-making.
Pecuniary interest refers to monetary conflict of interest. A pecuniary interest is said to exist where an individual trustee is involved in decisions that would have a positive or negative financial impact on the personal circumstances of the trustee and his or her spouse/partner.
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For more information please call:
Cathy Ward
Media Relations
Calgary Board of Education
Cell 403-819-2317
mediarelations@cbe.ab.ca
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