By DANIEL BRAGG
Guest Columnist
There is currently a bill in the Indiana General Assembly (HB 1003) that if passed, would result in school systems only being obligated to post a summary of their annual performance reports in local newspapers, rather than the full report. The full report would be published on a government website.
To some, this might not sound like that big of a deal, and might even seem as to be a way to move our state more into the digital age. I would caution Hoosiers who feel that way, however.
The importance of government transparency in America has always been a high priority. After all, a well-informed populace was one of the goals of our Founding Fathers. It was Thomas Jefferson who said that “whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
HB 1003 would ultimately result in less transparency from our government and school systems. Moving an Annual Performance Report from a media source that still has millions of readers to a government-run website that is visited by a few thousand a year only has one outcome: Fewer eyes watching.
One argument that could be made by supporters of HB 1003 is the cost savings effort. School systems using money from their annual budgets to post a performance report might seem like unnecessary spending in 2020 when most people in America are walking around with full-blown computers in their pockets.
So, we are faced with a question. Is it still worth the monetary commitment to continue to post full reports in local newspapers? I say yes.
Depending on the school system prices may vary, but on average school systems in Hamilton County have paid $602.56 to local newspapers to post their annual reports. The average annual budget for the same school systems is $96,586,573.79.
Several lawmakers have jumped on board to sponsor or co-author the bill also. Among those lawmakers is Representative Tony Cook of District 32. His involvement with this bill is particularly troubling to me since there are still large parts of the district that don’t have access to quality internet, according to statistics from the Purdue Center for Regional Development. Again, ensuring that the Indiana government is as transparent as possible should be a top priority, but HB 1003 seems to indicate otherwise from our lawmakers.
The worst part about HB 1003 is found in what the rest of the bill contains. Changes to our education system that need to happen are in this bill. However, some of our legislators have decided to package the very good aspects of the bill with this terrible provision. The public’s access to school annual reports must not be limited, nor should it be.
By continuing to publish the reports in local newspapers, the public can continue to hold our legislators and school systems accountable. Indiana’s education system in K-12 is doing incredible on a national scale, but that does not diminish the significance of being transparent.
The Indiana General Assembly has shown a commitment to improving our public school systems across the state. They should be commended for that. They also should be ridiculed when they make mistakes. HB 1003 would be a mistake.
Daniel Bragg is a Republican candidate for Indiana House District 32.