Curriculum Transparency: A Must for Effective Parent-Teacher Partnerships
- April 29, 2022
While the education transparency locomotive hasn’t been derailed, the engineer has pulled the brakes a couple times. Open union negotiations legislation was sent to its death in a Democratic-controlled Senate committee. Meanwhile, a key higher education transparency bill has spent many weeks accumulating dust while the session clock quickly approaches midnight.
READ MOREUnion agreements bind many local school boards in how they use public funds, while also setting priorities and policies for local schools and classrooms. What other private group do we allow to have secret meetings with government officials over tax dollars and official policies? Following a 2010 K-12 financial transparency law, HB 1118 would open union negotiations to public view. The education transparency train rolls on.
READ MOREHost Amy Oliver and senior policy analyst Ben DeGrow discuss the findings of a new Education Policy Center report that tracks how well Colorado local K-12 agencies are complying with a 2010 state law requiring greater online financial transparency. DeGrow, who co-authored the report with research associate Devan Crean, highlights both the large number of school districts that fall short of the standard as well as a few large and small districts that are setting the standard above and beyond the law’s requirements.
READ MORELed by Ed News Colorado, local media cover the release of the new Independence Institute report on the state of financial transparency among local K-12 agencies.
READ MOREToday it is more important than ever for governments to be financially transparent. The funds of public K-12 agencies in particular should be spent wisely to improve student learning. Colorado’s 2010 Public School Financial Transparency Act requires local education providers to post specified financial information online. Out of 178 school districts, 16 BOCES and the Charter School Institute, only 25 websites were fully compliant with the law’s requirement 90 days after the July 1, 2011, deadline to post expenditures through check registers and purchase card statements.
READ MOREWatch this 3-part YouTube replay of the February 5 broadcast of Independent Thinking with host Jon Caldara, as Jeffco Public Schools CFO Lorie Gillis and our own policy analyst Ben DeGrow discuss the growing trend of local governments opening up their checkbooks.
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