Why and how is Highland Park ISD hiding information about an employee-run kick-back scheme that could have bilked the district for over $1 million? The answer could have far-reaching consequences for government transparency throughout Texas.
In 2020, a former employee of the district’s tennis center alleged that some other employees had been skimming cash that was meant for the business. After the tennis center switched to using a credit and debit card payment system, receipts increased by $1.1 million, according to a comparison of financial reports from 2020 to 2021. An accounting firm was hired to conduct a financial investigation. The firm completed the report, but it was never published.
Under the Texas Public Information Act, that report should be made public and available. However, when the Texas Public Policy Foundation made the request for the report, our lawyers were told that the contents of the report fell under attorney-client privilege because the report was run through the district’s legal counsel.
“If governments can launder investigations through lawyers, like HPISD did here, the TPIA becomes meaningless,” said TPPF Senior Attorney Matthew Chiarizio. “We’re asking the Texas Supreme Court to close this loophole and restore public accountability.”
TPPF has officially filed a petition for review urging the Texas Supreme Court to eliminate the blanket attorney-client privilege exception to TPIA requests.
If allowed to stand, this action would create a massive loophole in the Texas PIA, undermine the spirit of government transparency, and create a model for every other government entity to hide information from the public.
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