School official defends charter vote donation
BOSTON (AP) — Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Chairman Paul Sagan is defending his decision not to reveal a $500,000 donation he gave to a New Yorkbased group pushing last year's charter school ballot question.
In a seven-page statement, Sagan said it was up to the group, Families for Excellent SchoolsAdvocacy, to reveal the donation — not him.
Sagan said he considered publicly disclosing the gift — and a second donation to another pro-charter school group — but decided against doing so.
"Why? On balance, I thought that if I went ahead and announced my donations, opponents of Question Two would accuse me of using my position as chair of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education as a platform to help influence support for expanding the statutory cap on charter schools," Sagan said in the statement.
Sagan, who read the statement during a board meeting Tuesday, said he checked with the State Ethics Commission last year before making the donation. He said received a written response advising him that under the state's conflict of interest laws, his position as board chairman didn't bar him, or his wife, from contributing personal funds to any political campaign or advocacy group.
He said he sent a disclosure letter to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in September 2016. Sagan also said in the statement that he made it clear to pro-charter school groups that he "would not help them with fundraising and they could not use, or even reference, my involvement with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in any of their activities, specifically because I did not think that would be appropriate."