School Districts: Transparency Required.
The public may start seeing more transparency from school districts soon, according to the Sun-Times.
One new piece of legislation (SB2270), introduced by Senators Dan Cronin, Kirk W. Dillard, Chris Lauzen and John J. Millner states “every school district must post on its Internet site a compensation report for every employee who holds an administrative certificate and who works in that capacity. The report must include such details as base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, the cost of health insurance and any other form of compensation.”
This legislation requires quick attention by school districts, which must comply by October 1 of every year – meaning, this Thursday. You can find an entire reading of the bill here.
The second bill (HB2235), introduced by House members Monique D. Davis, Jack D. Franks, Mike Boland, Randy Ramey Jr., Fred Crespo and Elizabeth Coulson, requires every school board “report the base salary and benefits of the school superintendent, all administrators and teachers by July 1, starting in 2010. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.” This law includes public universities and community colleges.
These pieces of legislation are good steps in promoting government spending transparency. It would also be worthwhile for them to require posting all expenditures online – not just salaries – which would include, vendors, contracts, and grants. In addition, transparency legislation should apply to every level of government, from villages, city councils, county boards, park districts, library boards, and so on.
Any body operating off tax dollars should implement transparency policy – not only school districts need it. And, as always, it takes an active public to make sure their various bodies of government are complying with transparency legislation (or any legislation), so hold your school district accountable and keep an eye out for posted information by October 1.
[...] the Illinois Policy Institute called every school district in Illinois to see whether they were in compliance with a new school code put in place in September, requiring districts to “post on its Internet site a compensation [...]
[...] passed in August last year, giving all school districts in Illinois until July 1, 2010 to “report the base salary and benefits of the school superintendent, all administrators and teachers by…. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be [...]