by Nancy McGill, The Milford Times

    It all started with software that was intended for the Nebraska Department of Education's (NDE) STARS program and assessments governed by the department to relieve the burden of overwhelming data.
     Each of the 18 Educational Service Units in Nebraska kicked in $4,500 for myeLearning, the software nobody officially owns. At one point, the NDE also contributed $4,500 to the software project.
     In a letter to Attorney Gen. Jon Bruning dated Nov. 15, 2005, Milford's ESU 6 Board President Darrell Eberspacher and other members of the board asked to know who owns myeLearning.
     The request was made because an employee was hired specifically for myeLearning.org by the Educational Service Unit Administrators Association (ESUAA), a group made up of ESU administrators that conducted public business in private or "cracker barrel sessions," as stated by outgoing ESU 6 Boardmember Alan Jacobsen.
     The NDE estimated that MyeLearning would generate $1.2 million in revenue, time-frame unknown. Originally, the software's estimated start-up costs were $1.9 million, plus $100,000 in servers. Three to four employees would run the software operation.
     The letter included a timetable of the ESUAA's actions regarding decisions made involving public monies. For example, the ESUAA voted to approve a five-percent salary increase for their treasurer in November of 2004. Twenty-five percent of the increase came from ESUAA funds and one percent from the Interlocal Agreement (ILA), which is governed by state statute.
     Board members from ESU 6 also wanted to know if ESUAA had to report to the Internal Revenue Service since they are not a legal entity or possess a tax identification number and use ESUs as a fiscal agent; if the ESUs had authorized the ESUAA to develop and market myeLearning using ESUs as a fiscal agent; and if the ESUAA is required to have a cash reserve of $82,000 more than their $18,000 budget. State statute sets a limit for cash reserve funds.
     The list goes on, but essentially, the board voted to request Bruning's opinion regarding a proposed ILA between state ESUs because myeLearning was supposed to be transferred to the legal agreement.
     The board still doesn't know who owns myeLearning.
     Then came the bill for $32,069. Outgoing ESU 6 Administrator Don Fritz said the money should be moved from ESU 6 to ESU 9, "because he was leaving," according to ESU 6's transcribed board minutes.
     The board did not approve the payment.
     The money comes from the one-percent ILA. Fritz said expenses had accumulated over a period of three years and amounted to $32,069. His role at ESUAA was liaison for the one-percent ILA.
     The one percent was originally set aside for ESU personnel training in Nebraska, but teachers were added to relieve their costs for training materials, such as books.
     Board members were skeptical of making the payment because expenses are supposed to be paid out as they're spent and three years of accumulated bills did not sound right.
     In an attempt to make ESU 6 pay the money, Fritz had ESU 9 send a bill to Milford. The money sits with ESU 6 today, frozen.
     A little more than a year later, the attorney general's office has issued its opinion: that ESUAA, under the Interlocal Cooperation Act, had formed a consortium and were in violation of the Open Meetings Act:
     "We believe that the ESU administrators clearly assumed the role of the government board created pursuant to the provisions of Consortium Agreement, but made no attempt to keep their ESUAA activities separate from the workings of the interlocal agreement."
     The Consortium Agreement is an agreement formed under the Interlocal Cooperation Act, the opinion stated. Under the consortium, ESUAA automatically moved itself into a public body. Therefore, the board of the consortium was found to be in violation.
     While Jacobsen is satisfied with the ruling, he still doesn't know who has jurisdiction over the $32,069.
     "It's an issue because they've been meeting in secret for six years," Jacobsen said. "There's too much kingdom building going on. You're supposed to build kingdoms for teachers and students, not administrators."
     He also feels ESU 6 has been exonerated.
     "ESU 6 has been made out to be this mad, radical group that is against education," he said. "I'm satisfied they (attorney general's office) took our concern seriously."