There are two measures being considered by the state legislature this session to improve the public's access to information. The first is Senate Bill 09-057, which, when drafted, would have required that districts put their expenses online in a searchable database. This measure has proven to be extremely beneficial in government entities which have instituted the practice - millions in cost savings and efficiency measures were identified, and more vendors became involved in bidding for contracts and services, which also lowered costs. Opponents of the bill claim the cost is too high for smaller districts, even though a third party vendor could make money providing the service for $10,000 a year. Instead of trying to work on solutions for smaller districts, opponents are attempting to make the bill meaningless; one amendment would make it a voluntary, pilot program, the current amendment, proposed by Senator Evie Hudak, would make the aggregate information on spending, which districts currently report to the Colorado Department of Education, the required full extent of transparency. Honestly, how valuable to a taxpayer is the aggregate information that Jeffco Public Schools spent $10,043,611 for school administration for elementary schools out of the general fund, and who would want to have to go through an open records request to get any more detail? Call or write your senator before the bill is heard at 9:00 am Friday, the 13 th, to support Senate bill 09-057 as originally intended, the public has a right to know.

The second measure is just being written and deals with new school construction. Many people are unaware that, as currently written, boards of education have the absolute power to locate and build schools and support facilities. Flatly, it doesn't make sense for decisions regarding millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to be made in isolation. This was recognized by the Legislative Council in 2005, which recommended both broad changes in public participation in these decisions, and better master planning and coordination with local communities' development plans. The proposed legislation, to be titled Transparency in New School Construction, would simply require that plans for new facilities be readily available for the public to review, and that a hearing be held before construction commences. Currently, finding information about what may be in the works can be haphazard, depending on your district. You might luck out and talk to the right person, or, your district might commit to specific projects and costs in bond proposals, but for many of us, bond proposals are written as broadly as possible and ultimately authorize the district to raise money to use "...as it sees fit," (this is the actual language from the current statute).

The website TransparencyInEducation.org will continue to follow the progress of both proposals, and has other information about schools, spending, and other transparency issues and practices.If you have had any noteworthy experience with facility or spending transparency issues, there's a contact page on the website and we'd be interested in sharing those stories with other community members.The bottom line, board members are hard-working volunteers dealing with massive and important issues which shape our communities, our children, and our pocketbooks. Public participation can only help their decision-making.