ALEC NTU Public School Financial Transparency Act

8/6/2019 ALEC NTU Public School Financial Transparency Act

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The Public School Financial Transparency Act1

2Summary3The Public School Financial Transparency Act would require each local education provider in the state to4

create and maintain a searchable expenditure and revenue web site database that includes detailed data of5

revenues and expenditures. It would also require each local education provider to maintain the data for a6specified number of years in a format that is easily accessible, searchable and may be downloaded.7

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Model Legislation0

1Section 1. {Title} The Public School Financial Transparency Act2

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Section 2. {Legislative Declaration}4

5(A) The Legislature finds that:6

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(1) Taxpayers should have easier access to details regarding how public schools are spending8

taxpayer dollars; and90

(2) Easier access to and storage of electronic data should facilitate increasing transparency in public1

school financial matters.2

3(B) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to direct all local education providers to create and maintain a4

searchable expenditure and revenue web site database detailing financial activities.15

6Section 3. {Definitions} As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:7

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(A)9

0(1) Entity means a corporation, association, union, limited liability company, limited liability1

partnership, grantee, contractor, local government, other legal entity including a nonprofit2

corporation, or an employee of the local education provider.34

(2) Entity shall not include an individual recipient of public assistance.5

6(B) Local education provider2 means:7

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(1) a school district organized and existing pursuant to law;90

(2) a board of cooperative services or intermediate school district;12

(3) a publicly-funded agency established by the state for the express purpose of authorizing charter3

schools;3 or4

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(4) a public charter school authorized pursuant to state statutes.67

(C) Public record shall have the same meaning as set forth in state open records laws.89

Section 4. {Creation of Searchable Expenditure and Revenue Web Site Databases}0

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Page 2 of 4(A) No later than one year4 from the enactment of this legislation, each local education provider2

shall develop, maintain, and make publicly available a single, searchable expenditure and revenue web site3

database that allows the public at no cost to review information concerning moneys collected and expended4by the local education provider.5

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(B)7(1) The web site database shall include the following data concerning all expenditures made by the8

local education provider:90

(a) The name and principal location or address of the entity receiving moneys, except that1information concerning a payment to an employee of the local education provider shall2

identify the individual employee by name and business address or location only;3

4(b) The amount of expended moneys;5

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(c) The funding source of the expended moneys;57

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(d) The date of the expenditure;9

0(e) The name of the budget program, activity, or category supporting the expenditure;1

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(f) A description of the purpose for the expenditure;6

and3

4(g) To the extent possible, a unique identifier for each expenditure.75

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(2) The expenditure data shall be provided in an open structured data format8

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(a) May be downloaded by the user; and9

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(b) Allows the user to systematically sort, search and access all data.9

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(3) The web site database shall contain only information that is a public record or that is not3

confidential or otherwise protected from public disclosure pursuant to state or federal law.45

(C) The local education provider shall:6

(1) Update the financial data contained on the web site database at least monthly;10

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(2) Archive the financial data, which shall remain accessible and searchable on the web site database9

for a minimum of forty-eight months11

after the end of the fiscal year to which the financial data0pertains;1

2(3) Make the web site database easily accessible from the main page of the local education providers3web site; and4

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(4) Create and make easily accessible an automated Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed to which users of6

the web site database may subscribe for notification of updates to the web site database.12

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on a daily basis.

11 Ideally, data should be required to be archived for a minimum of five years (the current year plus four

additional years). But sponsoring lawmakers should have the discretion to modify the requirement according

to local concerns.

12 An RSS feed is a simple and inexpensive tool to which parents, taxpayers, and other interested groups cansubscribe in order to track updates to the local education providers web site database in a convenient and

timely manner.

Documents

ALEC NTU Public School Financial Transparency Act