Transparency Spotlight
Open Book Test
School districts improve and secure
Web site transparency
Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in the September/October 2009 issue of Texas Rising.
The Internet is not just a place for school districts to post what’s for lunch. Now they can post how much it costs them to buy, cook and serve it — right down to the last plastic fork.
Budgets, financial reports and check registers are becoming more common online as school districts of all sizes make fiscal transparency a priority even as they wrestle with security issues.
“That makes it easier because there’s already a system in place and schools use it for other things,” says Bob Ashton, a program specialist in the Comptroller’s Local Government Assistance Division. “It’s just a matter of converting a financial document to a PDF. That takes staff time, but it probably saves staff time in the long run because there are fewer open record requests.”
School check registers, budgets and financial reports are all available for review by request under the Texas Public Information Act.
School districts have inherent advantages over cities when it comes to posting the data. Web assistance is available from one of the 20 statewide Education Service Centers, created by the Texas Legislature in 1967.
In June, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill that removed the “65 percent” rule, which was the basis for an incentive for school districts to post financial information. Previously, a district that did not spend 65 percent of its budget on direct instruction could have been considered as meeting that requirement if it published its check register and annual payroll expenditures on its Web site.
One obstacle school districts face in compliance is security. Many are told by their banks that they should not post check registers because criminals can use that information, such as check and routing numbers, to commit fraud.
Boerne posts its check register in a simple form — date of check, payee and amount.
“Information you don’t want to give out is information that’s not required and can lead to fraud,” says Bruce Revell, Boerne assistant superintendent and business manager.
Revell says posting the register for the school district, which has nine schools and about 6,400 students, requires about two staff hours a month to redact information.
“It’s a process that depends on the ease of the software, the way the bank has everything set up,” he says. “It takes some manipulation of the data. When the software was written, the goal wasn’t to post the information on the Internet. As far as I know, there’s no software to do this specifically. But make it a requirement and somebody will come up with it.”
“The main problem we’re worried about is confidentiality,” Ashton says. “There are potential legal ramifications if government entities accidentally put out the wrong information.”
See which districts have put their financial data online at the Comptroller’s Transparency Check-Up Web site, which lists Texas local governments, counties and school districts that are setting the standard in their transparency efforts. TR
Strategies for Success
Openness By Any Other Name
The East Texas city of Tyler promises its citizens rose gardens and a commitment to deliver services “in the most appropriate cost-conscious manner.” And, as Tyler’s Director of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Daniel Crawford knows, sunshine is necessary for both.
Tyler, long recognized as the Rose Capital of the Nation, is the only large city in Texas that posts its annual budget, check register and comprehensive annual financial reports online for anyone to see. It earned the latter distinction in April when the city’s IT department showed Crawford just how easy and inexpensive it could be done using readily available business intelligence and performance management software.
“Having our financial information online just makes it a lot easier to reach a whole lot of people,” says Crawford. Recently, a Tyler resident who attends Baylor University called the city offices to request a copy of her hometown’s budget to earn extra credit for a government course. After telling Crawford she would make a special trip from Waco to Tyler to pick it up, she was excited to learn it was only a few mouse clicks away. “She said she loves coming home to Tyler, but I think she also was pretty happy to earn those extra points right away.”
Tyler also is earning points with its citizens for showing that they are spending taxpayer money prudently. “In this economic climate, people are monitoring things more closely,” says Crawford. “And that’s a good thing. There’s more interest today and greater appreciation that we’re being responsible stewards for our citizens and business partners.”
The city’s focus on service delivery and Internet access to information stems from the Tyler Blueprint, which was adopted more than 10 years ago, according to the City of Tyler’s Communications Director, Susan Guthrie. The Blueprint outlines core values such as being “postured with 21st century technology” and “minimizing liabilities and costs.”
In addition to posting financial data, Tyler also makes government more accessible to its citizens in other ways. It will soon begin streaming city council meetings, and Tyler Mayor Barbara Bass is an active blogger who uses the forum to communicate frequently with the Tyler community and respond to citizen concerns.
The city also employs a sophisticated software program to prioritize projects that advance Tyler 21, a long-term capital improvement plan designed to keep the city economically vibrant and, as its Vision statement proposes: to “enhance and extend into the future the precious legacy bestowed by previous generations – Tyler’s Rose Garden, its tree-lined streets and its historic districts.”