Republican effort to boost school budget transparency diluted by Dems

A Democrat-controlled committee pushed through a watered-down Republican proposal today to create greater fiscal accountability in Colorado's public schools. The version of the bill adopted by the committee left its sponsor, Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, fuming over what he called "a charade."

Following a lively debate yesterday in the Senate Committee on Education, which lasted over two hours and included the testimony of over 20 people, the panel reconvened this afternoon to hear several new amendments offered by members.

Senate Bill 57 in its full-strength form would have required school districts to post their revenue and expenditures online.  Harvey said the measure mimics steps being taken by President Obama and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, who have both pledged to make federal and state finances easily accessible via the internet.

However, committte Chairman Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, offered an amendment changing SB 57 from a bill which would have mandated the transparency, to a resolution which just "strongly encourage(s)" school districts to post finances online.

Harvey asserted the amendment gutted his bill and said he could not call for a "yes" vote on the amended bill.

"If this amendment passes, I willl ask for a 'no' vote, because this amendment essentially guts the bill," Harvey said during the hearing.

"This resolution is little more than a reccommendation from the State Legislature," Harvey said. "It gives the appearance of the Democrats voting for transparency when in actuality it's nothing more than a charade."

Some Democratic committee members contended the bill would usurp the local control of the districts while others in the majority party said requiring districts to disclose their finances would put too large a financial burden on the districts. 

Yet, when Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, offered an amendment he said would control costs--districts only would have to post online a spreadsheet with the specified data once a month--even that amendment was voted down along party lines.

Harvey said he really did not believe that the bill was too onerous a burden for the districts to bear and pointed to the fact that the only districts that currently post their budgets online are two small, rural ones--Durango 9-R and Rangely RE-4.  He said both those districts reported the process was easy and inexpensive.

"The intent of this bill was to have true transparency," Harvey said. "But now, there is no assurance that taxpayers will be able to know where and how their money is being spent."