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 such as employees’ salaries, overtime pay and administrators’ credit card expenses. Check out what they [...]
Tag Archives: school board
Chicago Board of Education Credit Cards Canceled
Thousands of dollars in artwork, limos, expensive meals and liquor charges by employees of the Chicago Board of Education, such as former presidents Michael Scott and Rufus Williams, along with their staff, have come under scrutiny, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman has canceled the credit cards of 89 Chicago Board [...]
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 [...]
Transparency Reveals the Good and the Bad
Liberty Leader Scott O’Connell sent us a copy of this letter below, which is from a gentleman who sued to obtain access to the Wheaton School District 200 superintendent’s salary. This should highlight and provide yet another reason why transparency is so important in school districts – and all levels of government — including salary [...]
Model Leadership in Geneva
Citizen activist, Robert McQuillan, 52,has participated in school board meetings for seven years and questioned board members about taxes and spending. Now, he has successfully persuaded School District 304 to post its check registry online. The Kane County Chronicle covered McQuillan’s success story and his tireless efforts. McQuillan explained, “I think it’s a good school [...]
District 150 – Open for Business?
A concerned taxpayer and parent writes in the Peoria Journal about School District 150 opening up its books and letting the public see and better understand how it spends the community’s tax dollars. Scott Donahue makes some solid points — and there’s no reason for school districts or any government bodies to keep the public [...]
Increased School Funding? Let's See Transparency First.
State Representative Kathy Ryg (D59-Vernon Hills) is on the right track. In the Daily Herald today, Ryg encourages more transparency, writing: …before additional taxpayer dollars are poured into Illinois’ broken public school system. I have filed HB5769 – Education Fiscal Accountability amendments to the School Code as a result of research and collaboration by elected [...]