Smells Fishy

Maybe I'm just overly suspicious of politicians, but this story makes me think that something fishy is up.

A family member of mine who has been a teacher for years applies regularly to various grant foundations to earn extra money for her classroom. (The city school system can't always provide enough supply money to each teacher to support their needs/desires each year, and some teachers end up buying supplies with their own money). Anyway, she's been applying to these grants for a while now and has received them in the past from various places.

One grant in particular sounded a little strange to me. It's run by the family foundation of a candidate running for public office and this year they awarded her one of their grants. What's fishy is this: the checks aren't made out to the school this year, like other grants, they're made out directly to the teachers. In fact, once the teachers cash their checks, they have to claim them as personal income on their tax returns! How is "money for the classroom" able to be categorized as personal income?? Why aren't the checks written to the school, with the named teacher listed on the memo line, as others are? (Plus, writing them out to the school shields the money from any taxes, and all of the grant can then go towards supplies).

Another thing... these grants were applied for back in March. Well, they announced who would win them in May, but the checks didn't come in until recently... right before the election. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the "family foundation" is writing personal checks to constituents in the area where this guy is running for elected office, but it sure sounds fishy to me!

PS> If anyone has an old laptop they'd like to donate to this teacher's classroom, she says she can get a letter to make it tax deductible. :)