Election 2011: District 86 Candidates on Transparency

How good of a job do think District 86 does with transparency and making public information easily available to residents and other citizens? What, if any, improvements could be made to public access and the system for Freedom of Information Act requests in District 86?

As a public entity, all information, with the exception of student and personnel records, is accessible to the community. There is a lot of information that the board of education processes and discusses at each meeting, and it can be difficult for the public to comprehend. Allowing for access to this information improves knowledge and understanding of the issues. The current method for accessing this information is sufficient.   

District 86 is doing a good job of with transparency, but like most school districts in the state, it is a work in progress. The board needs to come to a consensus on what we will make available to the public. I think this is one of the first things the newly elected school board will decide.

There is room for  improvement. An easy way to disseminate information is to lay out our audits and financial reports online to show how we are utilizing funds. Another way to increase transparency is to make the meetings available online for viewing so the community sees how we operate.

The Illinois Policy Institute rates the District’s achievement in the area of transparency as a failure. Failure in any aspect of a board’s being accountable to its community is unacceptable. I assume the question does not ask for a definition of “public information”—that is a term that is defined by law. Public information should be readily available. Major financial documents should be available online. The checkbook should be available online. Employee compensation information should be available online. So should other documents of obvious general interest.

FOIA is a statutory scheme for production of documents in existence—it is not geared toward generating information not already in document form. It is an informational system also subject to strict limitations on disclosure of private information—and it should be. Otherwise, however, it should be viewed as an opportunity to share information with the community, and the district should err on the side of making information available to people who demonstrate interest.  I am presently unaware of serious problems with FOIA in District 86.

Beyond FOIA, the district needs to be sensitive to public interest, and it should generate informational media when significant demand for it is manifest.

 Thomas Jefferson: “An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” 

The Illinois Policy Institute recently graded the quality of communities' taxing bodies’ online information. District 86 scored an “F”… twice. The board majority shunned the institute’s transparency pledge and demonstrates a disregard for transparent governance. Our opposition stated in the newspaper, “…posting things, as much as we'd like to, we don't have the funds.” So, the opposition continues to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on no-bid contracts. Such disregard for accountability was demonstrated again when the board boldly announced a $100 million debt project in the name of facilities without consulting the taxpayer. The inevitable consequence? Higher property taxes in a time where an economic tsunami has overwhelmed our country. Ironically, the board proposes a $100 million debt plan and yet has no money for online postings? Making documents available online frees resources needed to process FOIA requests. 

Improvements: online access to the district’s checkbook, posting required and frequently requested documents, issue press packets prior to board meetings, enhance board agenda information, proposed State of Our Schools speech with open public invitation, possible Citizen’s Advisory Committee and a curriculum blog. 

The District 86 board and administration clearly receive a failing mark in the area of transparency and making information easily available to the public. The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonprofit group which evaluates public bodies on transparency and openness, gave District 86 a 37 percent or a “F” in that regard. Two months later, the IPI re-evaluated the district and found that it had done little to improve transparency, and therefore gave District 86 a second “F.” (Editor's note: The most recent results from the Illinois Policy Institute's Transparency Project gave District 86 a 49.4 percent rating.) The board passed a policy, which I as a board member opposed, assessing every page of  FOIA requests a 35-cent fee and giving 10 business days to comply. Mike Kuhn was a staunch advocate of this fee. The state changed the law to “free” and “5 days.” So now the district complies with that since they are required to do so but will give you the information no sooner than five days. NEVER. In the past, the district provided the media with “board packets,” which had details about the evening’s board agenda. The district now requires the media to FOIA those documents. On Feb. 7, 2011, when the $125 million  facility plan was discussed, no information was shared with the audience or the media.