On Friday we were excited to report that Senate Bill 57, the school transparency legislation, won preliminary approval in the state senate. Not very many bills in the legislature get a full 90 minutes of debate.
Here are some of the highlights COST was able to cull by transcribing the debate:
“People are very interested in where their governments are spending their money. Transparency is very important to the taxpayers of Colorado.” – Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch (SB 57 sponsor)
“I’m not opposed to transparency, but sometimes the devil is in the details.” – Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins (SB 57 opponent)
“Then it’s time for an exorcism.” – Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs (SB 57 supporter)
“It pains me to hear the fog being generated to shelter our schools from accountability, to shelter our school budgets from the understanding of our citizens.” – Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield (SB 57 supporter)
“If this body cannot direct school districts to provide clear and transparent information to the people for whom the control should be truly localized with – the taxpayers and the parents – then there is no local control at all.” – Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud (SB 57 supporter)
“Citizens already have autonomy because they already elect local school board members.” – Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont (SB 57 opponent)
“The greatest form of local control is your vote. You vote for a school board. If you don’t believe they are managing your money well, then don’t vote for them.” – Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada (SB 57 opponent)
“The argument against this bill is such a hollow one. What are we afraid of?” – Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction (SB 57 supporter)
“As far as I’m concerned, we need transparency for any public issues, any public funds.” – Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora (SB 57 supporter)
“The only thing [SB 57] gives to the public is information and accountability for the choices that get made.” – Mitchell
“If you can’t defend it, don’t spend it.” – Harvey
[...] Colorado Spending Transparency » Notable Quotes from Friday’s … [...]
[...] According Jeff (and COST agrees), Senator Kevin Lundberg’s bi-partisan legislation ”takes the small, but important first step toward transparency, guaranteeing that people have the right to know and be heard, before a project commences.” Surprisingly there are opponents to even this simple proposition. They “believe district boards should retain the power to spend and build without any public comment, review or scrutiny – they argue that if people don’t like the decisions, they can vote board members out next time.” Sound familiar? It should! Evie Hudak used the same unconvincing argument on school spending transparency. [...]