Now HCDE Hiding Foundation Problems

Most Texas school districts benefit from the added support of a local Education Foundation. Operated by local business and community leaders, their Foundations raise money to bring added financial support to their local teachers and students.

The funds flow FROM the foundation TO the ISD.

But that’s not how it works at the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE)– the ONLY remaining County School Board in Texas.

In 1993 HCDE’s Superintendent, Dr. Shirley E. Rose, filed Articles of Incorporation for HCDE to have its own foundation called the Education Foundation of Harris County. (EFHC)

Instead of volunteer community leaders operating EFHC, HCDE used education property tax dollars ($200,000+) to pay for EFHC’s “staff.” The “staff” made sure the basics were done - meetings held, officers elected, website maintained, IRS 990s filed, etc.

HCDE even had a separate budget code for tax funds going TO EFHC.

During Texas Senate hearings on bills to close HCDE in previous legislative sessions, Senator Bettencourt discovered that property tax dollars were flowing TO EFHC instead of FROM it, and in response, HCDE’s current Superintendent, James Colbert, implied that the practice would stop. 

The following year, HCDE’s budget showed NO funds going TO EFHC. It appeared all was well.

But documents acquired through open records show something different. 

After EFHC lost its HCDE funded “staff” - EFHC fell apart.

EFHC has not held a meeting since 2017.

EFHC hasn’t filed an IRS 990 form since 2017.

EFHC’s 2018-2019 budget shows $500,000 – the majority of its revenue – coming FROM HCDE, even though HCDE’s published budget no longer includes a page for EFHC.

EFHC’s website address www.efhc.org  hasn’t been active in the last year.

Further digging shows that EFHC has become an HCDE “SHELL CORPORATION.”  

There is no “Foundation.”  

It is simply HCDE employees using the Foundation name – without any written authorization -  to acquire grants from outside sources.

Then HCDE employees invoicing EFHC to transfer the grant funds to HCDE – minus a 1% cut for “administrative costs.”

Is that even legal?





Well, legal or not, whatever is going on is apparently SO IRREGULAR that a simple public information request – the communications between two HCDE employees and EFHC – compelled the HCDE attorney to get the Texas Attorney General to block the information from public release claiming “attorney client privilege.”

Interesting that the two HCDE employees hiding behind “attorney-client privilege” are the same two HCDE employees who have been signing EFHC’s “payment authorization” forms – Danielle Bartz and Jesus Amezcua.  Coincidence???

Other irregularities found through public information:

With no documentation showing a vote or appointment to office, HCDE’s superintend, James Colbert, somehow became an officer of EFHC and co-signs checks from EFHC to HCDE.

Without any documentation naming HCDE employee Danielle Bartz as the “Registered Agent” for EFHC, records show Danielle Bartz used her HCDE credit card online to file EFHC’s non-profit corporation documents with the Texas Secretary of State on 4/16/19. The funds used were from HCDE’s “Department Wide – Misc. Operating Cost” budget.

Without any documentation proving his election to the position, HCDE employee Danielle Bartz reported James Colbert as the Secretary of EFHC on official documents with the Texas Secretary of State on 4/16/19.

Notice the discrepancy between the officer list Danielle Bartz officially reported to the Secretary of State on 4/16/19 and the 2018-2019 officer list included in recent EFHC grant applications.

Also note the “under penalty of perjury” statement at the bottom of the document.

In 2018 without any documentation proving permission from EFHC to use their name, and without EFHC holding any EFHC meetings to vote on approval, multiple HCDE employees filed grant applications and received funds in the name of EFHC. Some examples are shown in the chart below:

HCDE Employee	Grant Application Recipient	Application Date
Sharvon Pipkins	Stewart J Rahr Foundation	2/28/18
Sharvon Pipkins	Aetna Foundation	4/18/18
Gayla Rawlinson	Brown Foundation	4/23/18
Danielle Bartz & Joyce Akins	Wells Fargo	8/2/18
Sharvon Pipkins	Whataburger	8/27/18
Sharvon Pipkins Kamaya	Linde Engineering North America, Inc	8/31/18
Andrea Segraves & Vida Avery	HEB	9/11/18
Trina Finley	Henderson Foundation	11/15/18
Lisa Felske	WATER	11/28/18

Records also show that HCDE employees:

- assisted in producing EFHC’s IRS 990 filings and IRS extension letter

- are serving as EFHC’s bookkeeper/accountant

- are making payments on behalf of EFHC

For example:

On 4/10/19 HCDE employee, Simone Llorens, used HCDE’s credit card to renew EFHC’s domain name www.efhc.org.  The funds used were from HCDE’s “Technology Support Services – Contracted M&r Networks” budget.

Most concerning to me is the Texas Attorney General allowing HCDE to  block release of communications between EFHC and HCDE employees…

                   

because of the parallels with the 

Dallas County Schools (DCS) scandal.

I knew something was highly irregular in 2016 when DCS used their attorney to try to block release of their stop-arm camera contracts in order to “protect” the business interests of Force Multiplier Solutions owned by Bob Leonard.

But I NEVER imagined the secrets they were attempting to hide would land both the Dallas County Superintendent and Bob Leonard in federal prison for 7 years each for what prosecutors said may be "the largest domestic public corruption case in history."

Makes me wonder just how deep the deception may be at HCDE and why the Texas Attorney General is helping them hide it.

Note: Supporting Documentation

I requested the following information from HCDE. HCDE claims there are no records responsive to my request.

1. Any document(s) showing (1) the date Danielle Bartz consented to be the registered agent for the Education Foundation of Harris County and (2) the person(s) assigning her that responsibility.

2.All communications received by Danielle Bartz instructing her to electronically file the April 15, 2019 Periodic Report for the Education Foundation of Harris County with the Texas Secretary of State.

3. All communications received by Danielle Bartz giving her the names and addresses of all directors and officers she listed in the April 15, 2019 Periodic Report for the Education Foundation of Harris County with the Texas Secretary of State.

4. Any document(s) showing (1) the date James Colbert became an officer of the Education Foundation of Harris County and (2) the title of his office with the Education Foundation of Harris County

5. Any document(s) showing authorization from the Education Foundation of Harris County(EFHC)  to the following HCDE employees allowing the HCDE employee’s to represent EFHC in the grant applications below:

HCDE Employee	EFHC Grant Application Recipient	Date
Sharvon Pipkins	Stewart J Rahr Foundation	2/28/18
Sharvon Pipkins	Aetna Foundation	4/18/18
Gayla Rawlinson	Brown Foundation	4/23/18
Danielle Bartz and Joyce Akins	Wells Fargo	8/2/18
Sharvon Pipkins	Whataburger	8/27/18
Sharvon Pipkins Kamaya	Linde Engineering North America, Inc	8/31/18
Andrea Segraves and Vida Avery	HEB	9/11/18
Trina Finley	Henderson Foundation	11/15/18
Lisa Felske	WATER	11/28/18

Colleen Vera

colleen@TexasTrashTalk.com