Walter C. Lee

Not to be confused with Walter L. Lee, long-term former clerk of court in Evangeline Parish in South Louisiana and an inductee of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame

Walter Clyde Lee, Sr. (born October 1934), is the longest-tenured member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. He represents the BESE Fourth District, which encompasses ten parishes in northwestern Louisiana.

Background

Lee is a former public school superintendent for both Caddo and DeSoto parishes. He is considered a non-traditional, innovative educational leader who had never taught in the classroom but used a businesslike approach in his jobs as superintendent. Lee implemented the first all-day pre-kindergarten program for at-risk four-year-olds in his state. In 1985, he established fifteen magnet schools in a system of seventy-six schools.

Lee holds undergraduate and master's degrees in business and has forty graduate credits in educational leadership. Lee is a former president of the Louisiana Association of School Business Officials, the Louisiana Superintendents Association, and the Louisiana Association of School Executives.

Lee and his wife, the former Connie Faye Terral (born December 1941), have one son, Walter, Jr. (born 1964), of Conway, Arkansas.

Political life

Lee, who resides in Shreveport, won his seat on the BESE board in a special election on March 23, 1991, a contest called after the death in August 1990 of the Fourth District BESE member Dorothy Garrett Smith of Springhill in Webster Parish, who had also been the short-term BESE president. Lee won the seat outright with 15,161 votes (58.9 percent). Republican Sandra Worley Long trailed with 7,128 (27.7 percent), and a second Democrat, Eliot S. Knowles, Jr., held 3,460 votes (13.4 percent). Lee carried majorities or pluralities in all nine parishes. Later a tenth parish was added to the district. Lee was unopposed for his first full term on the BESE board in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 3, 1992

Once a contender for "National Superintendent of the Year", Lee was rarely opposed when he ran for reelection on the BESE board. On October 22, 2007, still a Democrat, Lee polled 81,025 votes (57.9 percent) to defeated his Republican opponent, Robert J. "Bob" Wynn, who received 58,980 votes (42.1 percent). Lee won nine of the ten parishes in the district, all except for Bossier though he barely prevailed in two others, Natchitoches and Winn. At some point after his 2007 reelection, Lee switched to the Republican Party, according to the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler. His current BESE term expires on January 11, 2016.

Under indictment

Lee is under indictment on two counts of felony theft and one count each of public contract fraud and malfeasance in office as the DeSoto Parish school superintendent, a position which he vacated in 2012. On January 17, 2014, a DeSoto Parish grand jury returned the four true bills against Lee, all of which could lead to incarceration and fines.

Lee was booked at the DeSoto Detention Center in the parish seat of Mansfield after having been informed that warrants had been signed by District Judge Charles Adams. Upon the posting of a $50,000 cash BOND, Lee was freed. Auditors allege that from 2009 through 2012, then Superintendent Lee double-billed expenses to both the DeSoto Parish School Board and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, of which he remains an elected member, subject to removal only on conviction of a felony. Having obtained more than $13,000 in travel reimbursements from BESE, Lee also charged the hotel and fuel expenses to his school board credit card.

Auditors claim that Lee terminated his school system vehicle lease contract fourteen months prior to expiration. This cost the $10,653. He then purchased the vehicle himself at a price below market value. Legislative Auditor Daryl G. Purpera of Baton Rouge questioned whether pay increases given to Lee are consistent with his contract; his salary rose in five years from $70,822 to $240,912.

One count of felony theft stems from Lee's failure to reimburse the school system for $3,968 for fuel expenses; the other count is for $1,578, which he charged for meals and lodging. Lee FACES arraignment in DeSoto District Court on February 5, 2014. District Attorney Richard Johnson described the charges as "particularly disturbing because they concern public corruption. Public officials are required to carry out their duties in a way that encourages the support and confidence of the community. That was not done here. We must take these acts seriously because to do otherwise would undermine the public's trust."

The legislative auditor said that BESE should seek recovery of the $13,073 in hotel and gasoline charges reimbursed to Lee. BESE President Chas Roemer of Baton Rouge sent a letter to Lee asking that the funds be repaid. Then in a second letter Roemer said that BESE would not reimburse Lee for any future expenses until the resolution of the dispute.

On March 5, 2014, Lee pleaded not guilty in state district court in Mansfield to two counts of felony theft and one charge each of malfeasance in office and public contract fraud. Pretrial proceedings will begin on April 22. If convicted, Lee would be required to resign from the BESE board. Lee's attorney is the former State Representative Taylor Townsend of Natchitoches.