How tax dollars are spent should not be kept secret

Rockford Register Star
rrstar.com 09/28/2009

A spokesman for the state’s largest teachers union says public disclosure of teacher pay and benefits “is not an issue that makes all of our members happy.”

On behalf of the people who pay your salary, we say: Too bad.

We couldn’t be happier about new laws that make it easier to get information about educators’ salaries and other forms of compensation. In the past, if you wanted to know the salaries of school officials, you would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request through the State Board of Education.

In an age of electronic records and real-time information, that’s ridiculous.
Taxpayers pay the salaries, health benefits and pension contributions for school employees. The information should be available with a couple of clicks of the mouse.

We want to be fair. Illinois Education Association spokesman Charles McBarron said some teachers get the point of full disclosure. “Some people are comfortable with it. Others are not,” McBarron said. “On the other hand, I think everybody understands the concept of public employees and tax dollars.”

Certainly, state lawmakers understand. The pair of measures that assure more information — and more timely information — about educator salaries and benefits passed without a single no vote. Legislators said they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency in government. It’s about time.

Lawmakers were also angry over reports that Chicago-area school boards quietly awarded large perks to top administrators. When those perks can lie behind a large stack of Freedom of Information Act requests, it’s not surprising these sweet deals exist.

This is how GateHouse News Service describes the function of the two new laws: By Oct. 1 of every year, every school district must post on its Internet site “an itemized salary 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.

The report also has to be presented at a school board meeting.

By every July 1, starting in 2010, school boards must report the base salary and benefits of the district superintendent, all administrators and teachers. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.

Just as sure as leaves turn and the seasons change, we predict foot-dragging and technical hang-ups with both of these laws. We hope they can be minimized.

For years, the Family Taxpayers Foundation downloaded the salaries of school employees in the state and made them available on the Web. The searchable database was moved in the last several years and is now available at www.championnews.net.

Look in the upper right corner of the home page and click on “Teacher & Administrator Salary Database.”

Both Champion News and the Family Taxpayers Foundation were founded by entrepreneur and businessman Jack Roeser, a longtime advocate of education reform. It’s good that people like Roeser have stepped up to provide the salary information, but it should have been government’s job all along.

The Illinois Association of School Administrators said its group has been successful in getting the word out among educators about the new laws. So much for ignorance being an excuse.

Executive Director Brent Clark called it “part of the new culture, or alleged culture, of transparency. We’ve not had a lot of that in Illinois.”

Which is to say that we really deserve it. Now show us the salaries.