Post by WeNeed3 on Mar 17, 2009 5:55:05 GMT -5
District 200 fight could cost us all
Daily Herald Editorial
It's our money.
Not to mention our kids.
That's a short and easy set of priorities for public schools making any decision.
But they didn't seem to be the priorities of Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 when administrators refused a taxpayer's request in 2006 for a copy of the superintendent's employment contract.
They didn't seem to be the priorities of the District 200 school board when it carried on the fight for three years, spending more taxpayer dollars in its effort to keep the contract secret.
Today, the argument goes to the Illinois Supreme Court, and it's not just taxpayers and parents in District 200 who have a big stake.
If the school district wins, taxpayers all across the state lose.
Government agencies of every stripe would be able to shield the contracts of public employees from public scrutiny. Why should you care? Here's what was hidden in some contracts we've scrutinized: Taxpayer-funded cars. Hefty travel allowances. Bonuses. Excessive sick days (and reimbursements of $20,000 or more for those that go unused.) Post-retirement health benefits.
All on your dime. Whether you agree with those perks or not, you deserve to know about them.
In District 200, the fight is over the five-year contract of then-Superintendent Gary Catalani, who's moved on to a job in Scottsdale, Ariz. At the time of the January 2006 request Catalani was Illinois' highest paid superintendent with a base salary of $306,000. Wheaton resident Mark Stern, then a school board candidate, asked for access to the contract under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and was told the contract was part of Catalani's personnel file and was exempt from the law.
Stern went to court after District 200 twice disregarded opinions from the Illinois attorney general's office that the contract was public information and should be released. But a DuPage County judge ruled for the school district, saying the contract was private because it was kept in Catalani's personnel file. An appellate court reversed that, saying the contract should be released but with any private information removed or blacked out.
So on to the Illinois Supreme Court, which can be expected to rule in several months.
District 200 says if it loses, governments statewide will have to open up personnel files that normally are exempt from scrutiny. The Freedom of Information Act, however, rightfully protects truly private information that has no bearing on public duties.
As for documents that do pertain to public duties, we hope the supreme court will express the same admonition a teacher might give to a student caught passing notes in class: If there's nothing to hide, don't try to hide it.
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