Tighter Control Of Charters Is Urged

D.C. Officials React to Report On Business Ties

The D.C. Public Charter School Board pledged yesterday to reexamine its policy on conflicts of interest as some elected officials called on Chairman Thomas A. Nida to resign and said the city should tighten regulation of its burgeoning charter school system.

The District's attorney general, Peter J. Nickles, said he has begun examining the official conduct and business ties of two unpaid panels that oversee one of the largest charter systems in the nation.

The pledges and calls for reform followed a report by The Washington Post, which found that key members of the two panels have taken part in official decisions that stood to benefit themselves, their colleagues, employers and companies with which they have business ties.

"I'm certainly looking into it," said Nickles, adding that the allegations of conflicts of interest "are important and need to be resolved."

"I don't think we've paid as much attention to charters in the past as we will in the future," he said.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said last night that when Nickles told him he wanted to look into the charter board, he responded, "Sounds like a good idea."

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called for the resignations of Nida and Barbara "Bobbie" Hart, the chairs of the congressionally mandated charter school board and the D.C. Public Charter School Credit Enhancement and Direct Loan Funds Committee, respectively.

Norton called The Post's revelations "astonishing, acknowledged and systemic conflicts of interest and financial self-dealing." She said she would reintroduce a bill that would give the mayor and D.C. Council more authority over charter board appointments.

D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) said the board "should be subject to all D.C. laws and regulations" and should be placed under the authority of the city's state education office.

Nida, chairman of the seven-member charter board, is a vice president of United Bank and an expert on charter school financing. During his tenure on the charter board, United Bank has lent more than $55 million to D.C. charter schools, their developers or landlords. Nida has been directly involved in about $35 million of those loans, The Post found.

Nida told The Post during a recent interview that he has never put his own or the bank's interests ahead of charter students in the District. Through a spokeswoman, he declined to comment yesterday.

The Post found that the Hart-chaired credit committee, which has awarded $47 million in taxpayer loans and guarantees to more than 30 schools or their developers, has also benefited banks and companies that have ties to the committee. Hart has declined to comment.