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The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
"Information is currency
for democracy." -Thomas Jefferson
The Eanes Independent School District began posting its check registry online, a move local information open records activists who monitor the district have been pushing for since 2005.District spokeswoman Dale Whitaker said the information was first posted in March. She said the move was not in response to pressure from anyone in the community.
"We’ve been adding things to our website: bus routes, menus," she said.
"We thought it would be useful."
Dianna Pharr, who keeps a blog about the Eanes school district and has been requesting the check register on and off since 2005, said she only recently became aware of the postings. She said she stopped requesting the register in March when it got too expensive and called the move a step in the right direction, but said she was disappointed that the district’s list does not include accounting codes, descriptions of what was bought and the check number.
"That’s information that we need to have to be an informed public", she said. "We need to understand the reason the purchase was made."
Archived check registers from before January 2008 are available on Pharr’s website, www.keepeanesinformed.com. Those registers do include the codes, descriptions and check numbers. In the future, Pharr said she would like to see the district’s salary and stipend information posted online.
"That’s the most popular page on my website", she said. "It’s information that the public wants to see."
One step forward in transparency: EANES ISD NOW POSTS
CHECK REGISTER ONLINE.
October 2008 - KeepEanesInformed (KEI)
has requested and posted the Eanes ISD
check register on this site since July 2005; see archive
below. Eanes ISD refused to post the register online
and then worked for
legislation that increased the cost of obtaining the
information. When we last requested this basic public
informaiton in March 2008, the district charged $63.00 to
produce one month's register. This
fall, Eanes ISD has taken one step forward in transparency
by
posting the 2008 check register online.
This is an
important step in the right direction. When we created
KeepEanesInformed (five years ago in fall 2003) the district
refused to post the board meeting agenda, the board minutes,
board meeting documents related to public issues, the annual
budget, or the check register.
Dianna Pharr offered to volunteer
her time and effort to post this public information on the
official Eanes ISD website. However, the district
declined her offer. For that reason, KeepEanesInformed
has served the public by
gathering and
posting public information for over five years.
During the past five years, Pharr has spoken out in board
meetings and contacted the Eanes ISD leadership in writing
to request that the district provide the check register and
other essential public information online.
We encourage Eanes ISD to post a link to the register on
the front page of the district site for easy accessibility,
and include check numbers, accounting codes, and a brief
description of each expenditure. The checks registers
previously requested and posted by KeepEanesInformed
include this information (see archived check registers
below).
Note:
A special thank you to a gracious KEI reader who loaded the
newly posted Eanes ISD registers (January 08 - August 08)
into a
searchable Excel spreadsheet format.
History of the KeepEanesInformed Efforts is documented below.
Archived Check Registers (beginning in July 2007) are
archived below and only available online on this site.
It's OUR check register.
Why
does Eanes ISD
refuse to post it online?
The
district purchased Boardbook and therefore, could
easily post the check register at no additional
cost. Unfortunately, the Eanes ISD
superintendent and board have
ignored citizen requests to post this public
information. The district continues to
resist open government by refusing to post
the
district's check register online.
What
is the Eanes ISD leadership trying to hide?
March 2008
Eanes ISD
estimates a charge of $63.00 to produce one month's
check register.
Request here
The
Eanes ISD check register
reflects the expenditure of our education tax
dollars and is online only on this site.
HB2560, a bill that
would have required governmental bodies to post check registers online,
almost passed during the 80th Legislative Session. The Eanes ISD
superintendent and board members have refused repeated
public requests (verbal, written, and in board meetings) to post this
"super-public" information online. When
government agencies refuse to respond to the public,
there is usually a reason. KeepEanesInformed will
continue to obtain and post this public information
reflecting the basic expenditure of our tax dollars.
Sample checks:
Note: The
following is only a
sampling of the district's legal expenses Walsh,
Anderson, Brown, Schultz and Aldridge law firm and does
not reflect the legal representation costs associated
with the 2007 Valley View Elementary sexual harassment lawsuit.
Further Walsh, Anderson, Schultz, Brown and Aldridge is
just one of many law firms retained by Eanes ISD and
funded with our school tax dollars. See the
"Private
Law Firm" page of this site to learn more.
70670 WALSH
AN000 WALSH, ANDERSON, BROWN, SCHULZ R
10/27/2006 $600.00
71899 WALSH
AN000 WALSH, ANDERSON, BROWN, SCHULZ R 12/15/2006
$11,430.44
72473 WALSH AN000 WALSH, ANDERSON, BROWN, SCHULZ R
01/19/2007 $38,153.22
73541 WALSH
AN000 WALSH, ANDERSON, BROWN, SCHULZ R 02/22/2007
$4,615.71
96824
07/12/2007
37,331.22
WALSH, ANDERSON, BRO 199
E 41 6211 00 732 0 00
000 Legal Services
through May 15, 2007
07/12/2007 68,207.05
WALSH, ANDERSON, BRO 199
E 41 6211 00 732 0 00
000 Legal Services - May
1, 2007
97445
08/23/2007 1,857.71
WALSH, ANDERSON, BRO 199
E 41 6211 00 732 0 00
000 Legal Services
Through July 2007
96806
07/12/2007 17,025.00
STERN, WILLIAM PHD 199 E
41 6211 00 732 0 00 000
as of 06-29-07 Legal
Services Spec. Ed.
Due Process
EANES ISD CHECK REGISTER
- ARCHIVE
This
archive is only available online at KeepEanesInformed
The
Eanes ISD check register
reflects the expenditure of our education tax
dollars and is online only on this site.
HB2560, a bill that
would have required governmental bodies to post check registers online,
almost passed during the 80th Legislative Session.
The Eanes ISD
superintendent and board members have refused repeated
public requests (verbal, written, and in board meetings) to post this
"super-public" information online. When
government agencies refuse to respond to the public,
there is usually a reason. KeepEanesInformed will
continue to obtain and post this public information
reflecting the basic expenditure of our tax dollars.
Re: Jan. 19,
2008
editorial “Going online to see
if government is in line.”
I agree
that government, including
public school districts, should
post public information online.
The Eanes school district
continues to resist open
government by refusing to post
the check register on the
district Web site. I have
repeatedly asked the
superintendent and board to
consider this user-friendly and
transparent approach.
In fact, each time I request
this public information, I
specifically state that if the
district will post it, I won’t
request it.
Still, this basic Eanes public
information is available online
only on a citizen Web site,
www.keepeanesinformed.com.
In
February 2007, the Texas Education Agency began posting its check register
online.
Shirley Neeley, TEA Commissioner announced, "We believe in open
government. The public has a right to know how their tax dollars are spent.
While a great deal of financial information, such as our Legislative
Appropriations Request, was already online, publishing our check register
makes it easy for taxpayers to see where their money is going,"
said Commissioner Shirley J. Neeley. Full article
here.
September 20, 2006 - Requested electronic copy
of check register
December 8, 2006 - Received almost three months later
From:
Dianna Pharr
Sent: Wednesday,
September 20, 2006 11:07 AM
To: 'OpenRecords
OpenRecords'
Subject: TPIA - check
register
September 20, 2006
Please provide,
electronically, the check register for 05-06. Please do not include the
payroll.
Please also provide,
electronically, the check register for 04-05. Please do not include the
payroll.
I am not seeking bank
account numbers or social security numbers. If the districts wishes to
exempt information that is confidential by law, please let me know so
that we can work together to avoid the cost and delay of an OAG opinion
request.
Thank you,
Dianna Pharr
NOVEMBER 5, 2006
To: Eanes ISD Board Members
I requested an electronic copy of the Eanes ISD check
register on September 20, 2006.
Two months later,
the district has not allowed provision of this readily
available public information.
Although I carefully explained to Ms. Gonzalez that
requestors have the right to request an existing
electronic copy of public information, Ms. Gonzalez
denied my request. Electronic production of an existing
document is the least costly provision and the most
prompt provision possible. In fact, I waited to request
this information until the district could, in fact,
train on the new Skyward accounting software and produce
the register electronically. However, Ms. Gonzalez
insisted that if public information is available in
paper, the district has no responsibility to provide the
document electronically. Last week, the Office of the
Attorney General informed Ms. Gonzalez that pursuant to
Chapter 552.228, I do have the right to obtain the
electronic information that I requested.
When I addressed the board in open forum approximately
two months ago, I asked the board to consider posting
the Eanes ISD check register online. At the time, I
noticed Susan Pulis’ reaction when I voiced my request.
She appeared noticeably disgruntled by my suggestion.
Please direct Eanes ISD superintendent Nola Wellman to
insure the prompt provision of an electronic copy of the
checkbook in full compliance with state law.
Please also consider my suggestion to consider local
policy to require the online posting of the Eanes ISD
check register. As I explained in an earlier
communication to you, I believe Board Book has the
capability to do so at no extra cost to the district.
With this approach, all citizens will have access to
this basic accounting of the expenditure of our public
funds without the need for a public information request.
Thank you,
Dianna Pharr
From:
Dianna Pharr [mailto:dpharr@austin.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 9:34 AM
To: 'OpenRecords OpenRecords'
Cc: 'David Escamilla'; 'Nola Wellman'
Subject: TPIA - Eanes ISD check register - September 30,
2007 - October 31, 2007
November 10, 2007
Please provide the
check register (excluding payroll) for September 30, 2007
– October 31, 2007.
Please provide
electronically to
dpharr@austin.rr.com
and include the following information:
check number,
date, amount, payee, associated accounting codes and
associated descriptions.
Please do not include
bank account numbers that are confidential by mandatory law
or social security numbers. If the districts wishes to
exempt any other information that is confidential by law,
please let me know so that we can work together to avoid the
cost and delay of an OAG opinion request.
I request this public
information because others in the community (including Eanes
ISD employees and KeepEanesInformed readers) have requested
that I post it on my website. As I have offered in the
past with no response from the district, if Eanes ISD will
agree to post the check register on the official Eanes ISD
website for public inspection, I will withdraw this
request.
Texas Comptroller Susan
Combs, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts writes:
Transparency,
a key government responsibility
You pay for your
government, and you
deserve to know how it
spends your money.
That philosophy is gaining traction. State and
federal governments are making transparency a priority,
opting to make many records freely accessible, rather
than keeping the public waiting for information
requests.
From the beginning of my tenure at the
Comptroller’s office, we prioritized transparency
efforts. On day three, we published this agency’s
expenditures online — down to the pencils — and posted
other agencies’ expenditure data in short order.
Building upon those efforts, our office created
“Where the Money Goes,” an online database for viewing
state agency spending. Expenditures in the database are
searchable by vendor name, expenditure category or
agency name. With that kind of easy access to the
information and numbers that make public institutions
tick, taxpayers can learn about their government,
question decisions, root out inefficiencies and hold
officials accountable for the way tax dollars are spent.
By demystifying state spending and providing easy
access to those numbers, we ensure greater
accountability to the public. As the window on Texas
state government, our office cannot have the blinds
pulled down.
Full article here
IS
POSTING THE CHECK REGISTER ONLINE REALLY THE ANSWER TO
TRANSPARENCY?
For two
years, KeepEanesInformed requested and posted the Eanes ISD
check register on this site. Eanes ISD refuses to post
this information online and then makes it cost-prohibitive
to obtain the information so that we can share it with the
public. Finally, in October 2008, the district agreed
to post this basic public information online; however, the
accounting codes and description column are not included.
However, from
our experience in requesting public information from Eanes
ISD, we understand fully that hidden layers exist in our
public school system. That's why posting the
checkbook online, while providing some degree of
transparency, is not the answer to transparency ...
principal's accounts, student activity fees, "petty" cash,
and then there's the whole PEIMS fiasco.
The huge public education trough is full of our school tax
dollars and well-protected by all those who drink from it
... superintendents, school administrators, private
attorneys, professional lobbyists, various vendors and of
course, private "education" agencies such as TASB, TASBO,
TASA, TCASE ... the list goes on and on. That's
what happens when there's a big 'ol pot of money and plenty
of incentive to keep the expenditures in the dark. Who
loses? Children and taxpayers. Please use the
links below to learn more about this problem.
KeepEanesInformed will post the 2008 check register
soon.
The
district purchased Boardbook and therefore, could
easily post the check register at no additional
cost. Unfortunately, the Eanes ISD
superintendent and board have
Transparency
at Eanes ISD
