School Transparency Bill Succumbs to Lobbyists

Last week, the House Education Committee killed the Public School Financial Transparency Act.  The Act, sponsored by Highlands Ranch Republican Senator Ted Harvey, would have required all public school districts to post their spending and revenues online.  The bill had passed the Senate Education Committee 26-8 in February with strong bipartisan support.

According to transparency activist, Natalie Menten, acquiring public spending records can be tedious and expensive.  “Many people do not know how to request public records. Public information requests made under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) can be expensive, even if the documents are requested in economical formats like copied to a CD. For example, an excel spreadsheet of Jefferson County Schools' purchasing card spending cost $75. Other schools have quoted prices up to $2300 for the same records.” 

The influence of the Colorado Education Association was apparent in the outcome of the vote.  Legislators in the House who voted no on SB 57 are the same eight legislators that received over $41,000 in campaign contributions from the state education lobby during the 2008 election cycle.  Casting no votes were Democrat Representatives Debbie Benefield, Mike Merrifield, Karen Middleton, Cherilyn Peniston, Christine Scanlon, Judy Solano, Sue Schafer and Nancy Todd.

Republican legislators on the Committee who showed respect for taxpayers and voted yes on school transparency were Douglas County Representative Carole Murray, and Representatives Ken Summers, Randy Baumgardner, Tom Massey and Kevin Priola.  Interestingly enough, these legislators received no campaign contributions from the education lobby during the last election cycle. 

Readers wanting more information on spending transparency and accountability can visit the Colorado Spending Transparency website at:

http://transparency.i2i.org/2009/03/no-sunshine-for-colorado-school-districts/

More information on a variety of state and local issues can be found on Natalie Menten’s site at: http://www.nataliementen.com/