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School District Transparency Now on the Web
A Chicago-based group says the best way to make school districts nationwide more accountable for how they spend taxpayer money is to start a grassroots movement - so that's what it has done. Paul Miller of the Sam Adams Alliance says the group just finished studying the level of transparency of every county government in the United States, and has moved on to the nation's school districts.

The "school district website project" is available through the website www.sunshinereview.org, and it currently lists the level of transparency for school districts in several states, including Illinois. There are currently 882 school districts in the state with the "starter class" designation. That means they've been listed on the project's website, but have no information posted about them yet. Organizers say the project is meant to raise awareness of how much information is readily available about how school districts spend money.

Miller says that's when parents, teachers, and other concerned citizens come in. The school district website project is a "wiki-page," which means anyone can upload information about their school districts to the website. Miller implores parents to get involved and look up how open and transparent their school districts are, and then post the information on the website.

Miller hopes to eventually have complete information about every school district in the U.S.

(Illinois Radio Network)
04 27 09 by Newsroom
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