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Lawmaker Proposes Ban On Publicly-Funded Non-Disclosure Agreements

ECOT headquarters in Columbus.
Dan Konik
ECOT headquarters in Columbus.

A lawmaker wants to stop companies and organizations from using taxpayer money to fund non-disclosure agreements. The issue came up recently with the now-closed online charter school, ECOT, which required severance packages to include these agreements. 

Records show that the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow spent more than half a million dollars on severance packages with non-disclosure agreements attached.

ECOT has been accused of fabricating student attendance data in order to get millions of state dollars.

Democratic Representative Kristin Boggs says NDAs are just another example of wasting public funds.

“There’s no reason why we should be spending a half a million dollars on to hush employees about bad and wrongful practices of an organization that has been publicly funded for so many years," says Boggs.

Her bill would stop groups from attaching these agreements to publicly-funded severance packages, and give the state the power to go after that money in the future if they do.

Copyright 2018 The Statehouse News Bureau

Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.