Multiple sources have confirmed off the record that Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) Superintendent Van Ayres has admitted that he in fact did accept transportation on a private jet provided by a vendor to HCPS. It is unclear if Deputy Superintendent Christopher Farkas also has admitted such travel. The Guardian reported allegations of vendor-provided private jet travel on September 13.
The vendor that provided the private jet travel is Horus Construction Services, Inc., a Tampa company whose president is Jonathan D. Graham (according to state records). Our previous reporting showed that less than a month after the tony trip to the Masters in April, a highly unusual “construction services for school real estate” swap to was approved by the school board at Ayres’ and Farkas’ recommendation at the May 7th school board meeting. The beneficiary of that deal was Horus, and the property provided to Horus was estimated to be worth $1.8 million.
The optics of swap may not be its only problem — the board’s action also doesn’t comply with state law.
Florida Statute §1013.28 Disposal of property states that “a district school board….may dispose of any land or real property to which the board holds title which is, by resolution of the board, determined to be unnecessary for educational purposes as recommended in an educational plant survey.”
However, no such resolution by the board was attached to the agenda item, nor was any such resolution passed by the board on the day it approved the swap agreement (May 7th). Only a contract for construction was approved.
Our second article on HCPS detailed other failures by the district to adhere to a different state law involving public records.
Horus’ main office is located at 3840 North 50th Street in Tampa. A sign on its building list ten organizations as having offices there.
One of those organizations is Versa-Tile & Marble, Inc., a corporation listed last on the sign. On May 20th, Versa-Tile donated $30,000 to a political committee called Representation Matters that had been created on April 4th of this year.
On May 30th, Representation Matters. contributed $1,000 to the election campaign of school board member Nadia Combs, the maximum amount allowed by Florida law. Combs is the only school member we have found to date who received contributions from a Horus-linked company.
Representation Matters is a highly unusual political committee (commonly called a PAC). In its almost 6-month existence, it only received three contributions. Two of those were on April 26th, and the last contribution was the $30,000 from Versa-Tile on May 20th. There have been no contributions since, and Versa-Tile accounts for 74% of all money ever donated to Representation Matters.
The timeline in April and May also raises questions. At its meeting tomorrow October 1st, there will be pressure on the school board members. Multiple sources tell us that many residents have contacted school board members expressing concern about the private jet travel followed by the swap deal less than a month later.
Have we seen the tip of a much larger scandal iceberg that the school district will soon hit? Or is it just a case of poor judgment by top officials in the school district?
As always….the Guardian reports and the readers decide. Please like our Facebook page to find out when we publish new stories.
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