Open Schools

A 'thumbs up' for transparency in school district spending

By:Michael Sullivan

How does your school district spend your money? Betcha you can't find out... That's why taxpayers should be contacting their lawmakers in support of legislation filed State Rep. Mark Strama (D-Austin), H.B. 1314, and State Rep. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), H.B. 1307. Of the two, Creighton's HB 1307 is more comprehensive. Both would shine much-needed sunlight on Texas' public education spending.

Strama was the lead author on last Session's HB 3430 to provide extensive statewide fiscal transparency. Strama's bill would simply require school districts to post their financial statements quarterly.

Creighton, one of our Taxpayer Champions from the last Session, would go much further and do a lot more for the cause of transparency. His legislation would require districts to post their expenditures -- checks written and credit card transactions -- within one month.

Taxpayers should demand both. We get handed the bill, it's time for us to be allowed to examine the receipt.

Reprinted by permission from the Empower Texans website.

Michael Quinn Sullivan is President & CEO of Empower Texans, a 501c4 non-profit organization promoting free markets in an effort to empower Texans. Empower Texans' premier project is Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. The organization also manages the Empower Texans PAC, which is directly engaged in the electoral process in Texas.