Raises in Chicago Public Schools or Not?
Check out this revealing (and entertaining) story by Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky about the maze of Chicago Public Schools spending and the difficulties in figuring out exactly where all the tax dollars are going and why.
Joravsky’s piece, “A …
Cook County Check Register Live
Want to find out how Cook County is spending your tax dollars?
Check out its check register here and see where your tax dollars are going.
ABC 7′s I-Team found some interesting expenses of note, such as $6,243.75 to CROE …
Health Care Bill: Obama’s Lack of Transparency
Although promising the public would have five days to look at every bill online before signing it into law, Obama has signed the health care bill just 36 hours after it passed the House.
Transparency and Teacher Layoffs
The SouthtownStar has been looking into south suburb school district spending over the last week amid growing talks of teacher layoffs and cutting school programs. The paper sent FOIA requests to 18 towns and 25 school districts asking for information …
Public Online Information Act
Congressman Steve Israel (NY-02) has introduced transparency legislation called the Public Online Information Act (POIA) which, according to the Sunlight Foundation, “embraces a new formula for transparency: public equals online. No longer will antiquated government disclosure practices bury public information …
Illinois State Sunshine Website
Illinois state government has created a useful one-stop shop website at www.sunshine.illinois.gov with the goal of bringing more transparency to the workings of your state government.
According to the website, the state created this resource by starting with “Sunshine …
Government Salaries vs. Private Sector Salaries
USA Today highlights yet another good reason for government spending transparency:
Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in 83% of comparable occupations.
Citizens want transparent government for many reasons, and being able to easily review government salaries – at …
Illinois Accountability Portal
The January 2010 deadline has come and gone, yet we still don’t see legislators’ salary information posted on the state’s Illinois Accountability Portal.
If you’re interested in seeing salary information for all state employees — benefits data included — …
Cook County Checks Online
After passing a transparency resolution about a year ago, Cook County has posted its check registry online and appears to be embracing spending transparency policy, describing their move as an “Open County Initiative,” which is “part of Cook …
Gov. Quinn’s Budget Transparency?
Ryan Keith from the GateHouse News Service reports “Gov. Pat Quinn wants more time to give his budget address — and promises to give a public glimpse of the state’s budget situation before that.”
Although state law requires Quinn to …
