Schools Should Put Financial Records Online in Exchange for Sales Tax Increase
The following was a column that I wrote for the News-Gazette in regards to the 1% sales tax increase in Champaign County for school facility construction.
The Champaign County Board is poised to vote to put a referendum on the ballot that will allow the school districts in the county to benefit from an increased sales tax to pay for facilities. Some districts will then issue a partial abatement of property taxes to provide some relief in return for the increased sales taxes.
A look around the county will show that many districts are definitely in need of capital improvements and the state certainly has not helped matters with the ongoing fighting over such funds being made available to schools. However, one critical matter impedes the success of increasing sales taxes for schools: the lack of trust many citizens have in their school districts.
It is no secret that Champaign Unit #4, for example, is still struggling with issues related to the trust people have in that district. One of the major reasons that the $60 million dollar bond issue failed a couple of years ago was directly related to many voters not trusting the school district with that money. Urbana schools are not immune from trust issues because of their recent difficulties. In a time when many working families are being pinched, a solid case needs to be made that these funds will be used efficiently.
There is, however, a solution to the trust problem and that is proactive transparency on behalf of the schools. Under the Freedom of Information Act, any voter can submit requests to see the budget, any check written by the schools, salary information and contracts that a school board signs. However, this process can be cumbersome and is subject to some delaying on the behalf of government bodies.
The solution is simple: school boards should post their check registers online within 48 business hours of any transaction. All contracts and salary information should be placed on the web as well. This information is already public record, but taking the step of putting the information online without forcing voters and the media to undertake the process of a FOIA request will show a great deal of respect for the voters.
This information is rightly public and belongs to the voters. The Illinois Freedom of Information Act reads, in part: “all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials”.
What better way is there for the school boards to show that they will spend the money appropriately than by showing the voters where the money goes? It will go far to rebuild the trust that has been lacking as of late.
Champaign County schools would not be the first to adopt a proactive stance to transparency. They would join schools in Palatine, Elmhurst, Carpentersville, and even the Collage of DuPage. In fact, Mahomet-Seymour schools already put some of this information online.
The information is already generated electronically so the cost of putting it online is effectively nothing. In fact, it actually creates cost savings by ending the expense in responding to routine FOIA requests which can be answered instead by going to the website.
Many critics of the school districts are able to lodge false charges about school spending (or misspending) because of the time and effort to get the truth. Schools should voluntarily put their financial records online not because they have something to hide, but precisely because they don’t have anything to hide. In so doing, they will join dozens of other school districts and institutions that are rebuilding trust in the schools and in government.
Many critics continue to charge year after year with each tax increase that the schools are misusing the money. It is time for the school districts to be proactively transparent to put these charges to rest. The voters are already, by right, entitled to this information. If schools want to rebuild trust and accountability, putting their financial records online is a great first step.
