Commissioner urges caution in advocating for ‘yes’ vote |
On Board Online • August 20, 2012
By Aileen Abrams
Associate Counsel
It is well established that school boards may use public resources to present objective, factual information to voters, and that it is improper to use district resources to exhort the electorate to vote in a particular way. The same restrictions apply when school district libraries seek voter approval for referendums, according to a recent decision by the state commissioner of education.
The commissioner of education ruled recently that trustees of school district libraries must refrain from using school district or public library funds or resources in a partisan manner during votes on library propositions and must avoid the appearance of impropriety in activities related to the vote.
In Appeal of Koehler, pursuant to the Education Law a school board called a special meeting of the district voters to consider a school district library relocation project and to levy a tax to fund the project. Voters failed to approve the proposition, but a district resident alleged that the library trustees used public resources of both the school district and the library to improperly advocate in favor of the proposition.
The commissioner dismissed for lack of evidence an argument that the school district had expended any district funds or resources on the library’s behalf or advocated in favor of the proposition. However, he found problematic certain actions by the library’s board of trustees which can be instructive for school districts, as well.
The library’s website included a link to a partisan website, managed by a third party foundation, which contained a petition in support of the relocation project and urged a “yes” vote on the proposition. The foundation was created to support library activities, including the relocation project, and no public funds were used to do so. According to the commissioner, while there is no per se prohibition on posting links to other websites on the library’s website, the library trustees should have considered placing a disclaimer on its own website to clarify that it was not responsible for any facts or opinions contained on any linked sites.
Additionally, the foundation created and paid for posters that were distributed to local merchants urging a “yes” vote on the proposition. The commissioner found no impropriety because there was no proof that any public funds were used in this regard. However, the library trustees distributed the posters in their individual capacities, along with other volunteers. The commissioner noted that in the future, the library trustees should avoid the appearance of impropriety by clarifying their individual status during such activities.
Finally, the local paper contained an editorial regarding the library’s future in the community, requesting a “yes” vote, signed by all five trustees and identifying them in their official capacities. While the commissioner found no evidence that any public funds were used in creating the editorial, it was clearly a partisan article meant to persuade a vote in favor of the proposition. Further, the repeated use of “we” in the article would lead a reasonable voter to conclude that the views were those of the library trustees, not the personal views of individuals. Although individual board members can express their personal views as long as public funds are not used he admonished the library trustees to avoid the appearance of impropriety in the future by making a distinction between personal opinions and those of the board as a whole.
While a school district library is considered a separate and independent entity for many purposes, the state comptroller has determined that public library funds may only be expended for a proper library purpose. Therefore, the commissioner concluded, public libraries are “indistinguishable” from school boards with respect to the use of public funds, so the prohibition on use of such funds for partisan purposes applies in equal force to school district libraries.