Minooka 201 Salaries, Benefits and Contracts

The Minooka CCSD 201 salary, benefit and contract information (including collective bargaining agreements) is available on the District website. Click here and here to be taken to this information.

Minooka 201 Salary Information

As an Illinois public school district, Minooka CCSD 201, reports its salary information to the Illinois State Board of Education on an annual basis. The Family Taxpayer Foundation is an organization that provides this information in a easy to search format. Click here to be taken to the page where you can search for salary information. Just enter "Minooka" in the box marked "District" and click the "search" button. Then choose "Minooka CCSD 201" and the salary information will appear. Click here to be taken to the Family Taxpayer Foundation home page. It may also be interesting to search other nearby districts for comparison.

Minooka 201 Audit Report June 2009

The Minooka CCSD 201 Audit Report dated June 30, 2009 is now available on the District website. Click here to be taken to the audit report.

Representative Democracy

A local school board, such as the Minooka CCSD 201 school board, is an exercise in representative democracy. The Minooka CCSD 201 school board is better able to make informed decisions when residents of the school district voice their concerns and opinions. I realize that most people lead hectic lives, so if you don't have the time to attend school board meetings and voice your concerns and opinions in person, please feel free to send me an email at the following email address: dpmartin1775(at)yahoo.com (you have to replace the "(at)" with the "@" symbol-I spelled it out in an attempt to foil spammers).

Now, it is impossible for any representative body, including the Minooka CCSD 201 school board, to satisfy all of their constituents at the same time. Each person has their own opinions and concerns which may conflict with the opinions and concerns of others. But, I believe government works best when it is transparent (shares all possible information) and held accountable (voters continue to stay involved and vocal, not merely during election season).

Link to Agenda for October 27, 2010 Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board will take place this Wednesday, October 27, 2010. Click here to be taken to the agendas for the Committee of the Whole Meeting and regular Board Meeting. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting. Please take the time to attend.

Minooka 201 FOIA Request Information

Minooka CCSD 201 now has its FOIA request information posted on the District website. Click here to be taken to the FOIA request information.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is October 27, 2010. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Please be sure to mark your calendars.

Government Transparency: Part II

In researching how other local governments (including many here in Illinois) are striving to become more transparent, I came across the following website of the Illinois Policy Institute. One of their major projects is called the Local Transparency Project. As part of the project, they conduct "transparency audits" of local governments. You can read all about it by clicking on the link above. One page of their website provides a list of items that they believe should be provided on a local government's website, their rationale and examples of Illinois local governments and others (including links to those government websites) that provide such information. Sunshine Review is another resource for government transparency.

Government Transparency

In a democratic Republic, government is the servant of the people, not their master. As such, government entities must operate in such a way to enable the people to hold their public servants accountable. Transparency is the key to enabling people to hold their public servants accountable.

In the words of a couple of important Illinois statutes:

"It is the public policy of this State that public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business."
- Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/1.

"Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest."
- Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/1.

As one of your elected public servants, I would like to see Minooka CCSD 201 run in the most transparent manner possible (consistent with applicable privacy laws).

To further transparency in Minooka CCSD 201, I am recommending the following steps be taken:

1. Posting of board packets (prior to school board meetings) to the District website. Any information for executive sessions should be removed and distributed to school board members separately.
2. Posting of District financial information (including the long form budgets, audits, Treasurer's reports, and monthly lists of bills) to the District website.
3. Posting of contact information (phone number and email address) of current school board members to the District website.
4. Posting of salary & benefit information to the District website.
5. Posting of all contracts (including vendor contracts and collective bargaining agreements) to the District website.
6. Posting of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer contact information (as well instructions regarding how to submit FOIA requests) to the District website.

I believe these steps are fairly easy given the current state of District technology. I also believe these steps will go a long way to ensuring that Minooka CCSD 201 is run in a manner that is transparent to the public. If anyone has any additional ideas regarding transparency, please feel free to post a comment.