CEDAR RAPIDS – If it’s a choice between learning and not learning, Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass will choose learning.

Jason Glass

Every time.

Glass, who describes himself as “State Director & Chief Learner,” is defending his participation in an all-expense paid conference in Brazil underwritten by a foundation tied to a corporation that has contracts worth more than $4.8 million with the State of Iowa.

“Anytime I have an opportunity to visit a high-performing country to talk to some of the best education minds in the world about what we can do to improve schools in Iowa — at no expense to the Iowa taxpayers — I’m going to take that,” Glass said Sept. 22.

“So if the alternative is go or don’t go, if the choice for me is learn or don’t learn, I’m going to choose to go and learn,” he said.

Glass chose to “go and learn” earlier this month to the International Education Initiative in Rio de Janeiro. It was sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers and paid for with a grant from Pearson Foundation. Its London-based corporate cousin, Pearson, which has operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Coralville, is the world’s leading education company. From pre-school to high school, early learning to professional certification, our curriculum materials, multimedia learning tools and testing programs help to educate millions of people worldwide – more than any other private enterprise, according to the company website.

Glass, who according to his blog, was in the company of at least 12 other state education directors in Brazil, is adamant he did nothing illegal in accepting the trip.

Megan Tooker, executive director and legal counsel of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, tends to agree with Glass there is no legal issue. No complaint, either formal or informal, has been filed with her agency that has jurisdiction over executive agencies.

Nancy Hauserman

However, the law is often the minimum response to ethics questions, according to Professor Nancy Hauserman, who teaches law and ethics in the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. The appearance of a conflict of interest can be damaging in the eyes of a cynical public.

Glass points out he has awarded no contracts to Pearson since joining Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration, which referred all questions about the Rio trip to Glass. Also, Glass said, the contracts Pearson has with the state were awarded through an “open and transparent, competitive bidding process.” In many cases, those bid lettings are handled not by the education department, but by the Department of Administrative Services.

The relationship between Pearson, the foundation, and Pearson, the corporation, raises an “interesting issue,” Tooker said. She is unaware the ethics board has ever issued an opinion on the question whether a foundation linked to a restricted donor – a business that does business with the state – is also a restricted donor.

There are at least two degrees of separation between Pearson and his participation in the Rio conference, Glass said.

“Pearson Foundation is not the corporation and the Council of Chief State School Officers is not the corporation,” he said.

Tooker’s concern is whether the acceptance of such gifts creates a conflict that could cloud someone’s judgment.

Roy Snell

That’s no question at all for Roy Snell.

It’s not about legal or illegal. The question is whether accepting the trip was a bad business decision, according to Snell, a former ethics compliance officer with the Mayo Clinic and now CEO of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics based in Minneapolis.

He believes freebies of any value have the potential to affect decision-making.

“It’s not a question of if it will affect his future decision-making, but when,” Snell said. “Why take the chance that this guy is then someday going to make an altered decision” because of a free trip to an international conference?

Hauserman does not have such a black-and-white view of public officials participating in conferences underwritten in all or in part private entities.

“Even assuming you could disentangle all the various connections, it’s very difficult to take a totally arms-length approach,” she said. Glass is in a “damned if you do, damned if you do” situation, she said.

“We don’t want uneducated leaders, leaders who aren’t current in their fields, who can’t take advantage of current knowledge,” she said. Hauserman learns from academic conferences by learning what’s new in her field, by making connections that help her and the UI.

Her solution: have a open and transparent, consistent decision-making model that the public will see as fair.

“Our leaders have an obligation is to make sure that they make decision with an eye to being objection, to weighing all factors,” Hauserman said.

She also advises officials to be upfront about decisions that might create the appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Tell people what the situation is and what you are doing to avoid a potential conflict,” Hauserman said.

Glass believes he has a consistent decision-making model.

“Every time a trip is offered, I have to look at what are the possible benefits, what are my priorities, what am I working on,” he said.

“I have to ask what can I learn, what can I bring back, how can I use this to improve schools in Iowa. That’s the lens I look through and then evaluate it against the ethical guidelines that are part of state law.”