Best practices for public sector procurement typically require some sort of competitive bidding process for basic goods and services. So why is it that one of the largest expenditures a school district makes other than payroll, namely interest on debt, is typically acquired with little or no competition? Interest rates are one of the most simplistic commodities out there, yet schools usually sell their debt (aka buy interest rates) through negotiated arrangements with bankers with little or no competition added to the process.
