The San Francisco Unified School District was all set to approve a contract to provide "ChatGPT EDU" to 12,000 users across the district at the Feb. 10 school board meeting. The order form was signed by the district's technology services officer on Jan. 22, and countersigned by OpenAI's head of education four days later. Then the district nixed it from the agenda. Why?
City law requires the council to approve all contracts above $250,000. But Oakland's city administrator, Jestin Johnson, has the power to issue contracts up to that amount without informing the council and the public. The mandatory annual report is meant to provide transparency into these purchases. The report also requires Johnson and his team to explain if any contracts were issued without a competitive bidding process, and how many awards went to local businesses.