As a leading advocate for increased transparency, Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver) today applauded the School District of Philadelphia for its recent decision to add salary information to the compilation of data it currently makes available to the public online.
With the help of Open Data Philly, the district has published 10 sets of data on its website for public use.
Christiana noted that in this era of advanced technology and instant access, the tools are available to make information about all taxpayer-funded schools in the state easily accessible to the community.
“School districts everywhere should follow Philadelphia’s open book policy by putting this type of financial information online,” Christiana said. “They granted taxpayers the same level of access that a bipartisan majority of House members believed should be statewide.”
SchoolWATCH, created under House Bill 1411, is Christiana’s statewide effort to open the checkbooks of Pennsylvania public schools to the eyes of the public. The bill would direct the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to create an online database of information detailing the amount of funding received by public school districts from federal, state, local and private sources, payments to outside entities and employee compensation. House Bill 1411 passed the House in January and awaits Senate action.