One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
LAUSD superintendent resigns from Scholastic board
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent of Schools Ramon Cortines.
(
David McNew/Getty Images
)
Listen
1:00
LAUSD superintendent resigns from Scholastic board
LAUSD superintendent resigns from Scholastic board
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines said today he is resigning from the board of directors of a major textbook publisher with millions of dollars in contracts with the school district.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the Scholastic Corporation had paid Superintendent Ramon Cortines close to $500,000 in cash and stocks in the last three years for his services on the company’s board of directors.
In a statement, Cortines said he’ll resign from the Scholastic board to end what observers might consider a conflict of interest.
He’d said he abstained from major decisions about Scholastic. The current L.A. Unified board backed Cortines. But a former board member said the arrangement affected the district’s purchasing oversight and a lobbyist said Scholastic enjoyed an unfair business advantage because of Cortines’s seat on its board.
In an editorial this week, Business Week magazine suggested that the ethics violations were simple and urged the board of education to pressure Cortines to sever his ties. A federal filing last year revealed that Cortines owns more than 4,000 shares of Scholastic Corporation stock. An L.A. Unified spokesman said he didn’t know what the superintendent plans to do with that stock.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
