Rio Grande City CISD repays federal funds following 2012 FCC violation [The Monitor, McAllen, Texas]
Dec. 18—Faced the withholding of federal funds, the Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District agreed to pay back more than $20,000 for a 2012 violation of Federal Communications Commission rules.
In October 2019, Universal Service Administrative Co., an FCC-designated nonprofit that helps to provide internet services across the country, reached out to the school district seeking to recover $20,301.08 that the school board had paid to Starr Telecommunications, ETC in 2012 despite a conflict of interest.
USAC told the school district that then-board trustee Leonel J. Lopez Jr., who was a registered member of the company, should have recused himself from voting on whether to approve funding for the company, according to emails obtained by The Monitor through a public information request.