School Districts: A Friendly Reminder

A friendly reminder to all school districts in Illinois...

by Kate Piercy

A friendly reminder to all school districts in Illinois:

HB2235 passed in August last year, giving all school districts in Illinois until July 1, 2010 to “report the base salary and benefits of the school superintendent, all administrators and teachers by July 1, starting in 2010. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.” This law includes public universities and community colleges.

Another bill also passed in August, SB2270, which requires school districts to post online administrator’s base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, the cost of health insurance and any other form of compensation.

Since school districts will be required to gather and report salary information for all administrators and teachers to the State Board of Education, it should be very simple for school districts to go ahead and post this information on their own websites. Plus, SB2270 already requires administrators’ information to be posted online, so why not go ahead and post both administrators’ and teachers’ information?

It seems like a logical step, and a step towards more open, accountable government.