Face the State

The School Finance Transparency Act, which would have required school districts to put their spending online in a searchable database, has been making its way through the state legislature, but only after multiple delays and a contentious amendment being tacked on.

After two days of testimony and discussion, the Senate education committee has finally passed the bill, but not without first diluting it to make the transparency “optional” instead of required. The bill headed to the Senate floor, where it has been delayed three times and is waiting to be debated. Each time, large groups of people have taken time off work to show up in support of the measure. They continue to leave disappointed.

Hudak and Gov. Bill RitterFTS File Photo

The latest holdup is the consideration of another amendment offered by one of the bill's loudest opponents, Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada. She proposes that the financial information already sent from school districts to the Colorado Department of Education be used for the searchable database.

Basically, instead of listing specific spending items, only general information would be available. See the below example of what school transparency would look like under Hudak’s proposal:

Org.  Fund  Location  Program  Amount
1420  10    100       2400     $10,043,611

Key:
1420 = Jefferson County Schools
10   = General Fund
100  = Elementary Schools
2400 = School Administration

In this form, information becomes totally useless to the average taxpayer because it leaves out the basic “who, what, when, where and why?” that explains the spending and, therefore, makes it transparent. Knowing Jeffco elementary schools spent $10 million on administration costs doesn't really tell voters, parents, and students what they deserve to know.

Hudak's proposed amendment comes after the bill's sponsor, Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, called out Hudak during its committee debate concerning two lunches she had with Jeffco Superintendent Cindy Stevenson that amounted to a taxpayer cost of $103. “Those are the kind of things that I think the citizens of the district need to know,” Harvey said at the time. Hudak was visibly red in the face and had no response to Harvey's revelation.

Hudak's strong opposition to the bill, on top of her pricey lunches and recent amendment, which further strips the bill of any power, leaves us wondering: what is Hudak hiding?

Hudak did not return Face The State’s request for comment.