Chancellor Richard Carranza hired a California friend to oversee the city’s struggling schools despite his pal keeping a financial stake in a software company that has since racked up millions of dollars in business with the Department of Education, newly released records show.

Abram Jimenez abruptly quit his $205,416-a-year DOE job after The Post exposed his rocky history as an educator — and a week before the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board revealed his giant financial conflict.

Before joining the DOE in September 2018, Jimenez was vice president of Illuminate Education, a software company based in Irvine, Calif.

Within three months of his arrival in New York City, Illuminate started landing deals with 28 city schools totaling $700,000 to date. Each school spent $25,000 — just below the amount requiring the city comptroller to review the contract.

Also since Jimenez started, Illuminate has racked up $5.4 million in DOE sales by IO Education, a software vendor Illuminate acquired in July 2018. The company’s New York City sales total $33 million since 2011.

In a COIB financial disclosure form released to The Post on Monday, Jimenez listed “restricted stock units” in Illuminate. The stock units are shares in a company that will pay off when the company sells or goes public, Jimenez’s form states. The units grow in value as Illuminate’s revenues increase.

Two City Council members blasted Carranza’s hiring decision.

“This fiasco with Mr. Jimenez reeks of cronyism and corruption,” said Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens).

Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-SI) added, “Perhaps it’s time for the chancellor to drop the holier-than-thou act.”

On the disclosure form, Jimenez left blank the value of his financial stake.

“He should have answered — absolutely,” a COIB spokesman said.

The forms require officials to give answers in ranges, from “$1,000 to $4,999” up to “$500,000 or more.”

Holden said, “The fact that he had stock in a company that made millions in business with the city, but did not disclose the number or value of the stocks as required, should be an automatic red flag. The city must thoroughly investigate this situation, and I think Chancellor Carranza has some difficult questions to answer about hiring his friend.”

Carranza made Jimenez “senior executive director for continuous school improvement” — a newly created position. The DOE never advertised the opening or announced Jimenez’s appointment, The Post discovered. At the same time, Jimenez quit his job at Illuminate.

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Last month, while Jimenez was still working for the DOE, Illuminate also acquired FastBridge Education, which develops computer-adaptive tests. FastBridge has already started peddling its wares to NYC schools.

Jimenez should have divested himself of the Illuminate stock before joining the DOE, experts say.

“He was given them in lieu of cash — it’s a way an employer can reward an employee,” said Edward Siedle, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer. Jimenez, he added, could have asked Illuminate to pay him cash for the stocks, because he would work for the city and “can’t have an ownership in the company.”

DOE spokeswoman Miranda Barbot denied the department or Jimenez broke any rules.

Jimenez “has no role in the company or its decision-making,” she said. And, “He recused himself from any involvement with the company as a DOE employee.”

Spokesmen for Illuminate declined to comment.

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