I read with interest the Biz Journal’s interview with Piedmont Triad Partnership president and CEO Don Kirkman, who’s no doubt still adapting to the recent corporate restructuring.
Note Kirkman’s answer to a very straightforward question from Justin Cantanoso about PTP’s $15 million federal WIRED grant:
What’s the most significant thing achieved through Wired funding?
From the beginning, [...]
*The Winston-Salem Journal weighs in on the Keith Antoine Carter murder trial, saying they “believe the verdict of guilty of second-degree murder was just, but the sentence — 16 to 20 years — too light…..”
*The Rhino keeps playing up the Joe ‘Wilbur’ Killian ’story,’ but puts its money where its mouth is as Scott Yost [...]
The Rhino’s Paul Clark discusses the recent Rhode Island school firings and what it probably won’t mean for Guilford County Schools’ Oak Hill Elementary:
The Rhode Island case is similar to that of Oak Hill – only worse. According to press reports, 65 percent of the students at Central Falls High School are Hispanic and have [...]
Questions Surround Guilford Strategic Plan Many questions still surround Guilford County Schools Superintendent Mo Green’s ambitious new strategic plan. One major question is exactly what the Board of Education’s role will be in implementing the plan.
Annexation Rules Could Generate Major Debates in 2009 Municipal annexation will take center stage during the General Assembly’s new session as the N.C. League of Municipalities deals with efforts to reform the state’s annexation laws put forth by property owners upset over paying city taxes for services they don’t need or want.
It's not easy being green “Green” schools appear to be a growing trend in public education nationally and in North Carolina. But school systems are quickly finding out that green schools cost quite a bit of green money.
School-layoff policy would give points for experience WINSTON-SALEM — The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system is close to adopting a reduction-in-force policy that would give points for experience and positive evaluations, should budget cuts require layoffs. ”This policy is a shining example of consensus-building, and, as a result, discord will be minimized considerably among the hard-working employees affected by the policy change,” said Tripp Jeffers, the president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators.
Activists want stiffer animal cruelty laws in N.C. GREENSBORO — Meet Susie — the poster dog for animal rights in North Carolina. You might remember her as the badly burned and beaten puppy found in a south Greensboro park last summer. The pit bull-shepherd mix captured the hearts of many, and they rallied to save her. Now Susie’s supporters will gather Sunday to rally again — this time to advocate for tougher animal cruelty laws in North Carolina. They’re going door-to-door in Guilford County with information on the state’s laws, which allowed Susie’s abuser to get off with what they say is a light sentence.
Guilford countywide trash pickup could face opposition GREENSBORO — Guilford County is still refining its plan for universal garbage pickup, which will provide garbage service for all county residents living outside incorporated cities. County leaders hope they can have a plan in place by the end of the year. “We’ve had a meeting with the solid waste committee, and we’re looking at all the details that have to be covered,” said County Commissioner Kirk Perkins. “It’s kind of tricky because we want to be sure we do it right when we do it.”
Fewer ABC boards proposed RALEIGH — The state’s top liquor regulator on Wednesday proposed shrinking the number of local ABC boards in the state through mergers and putting them under the thumb of county governments. Local elected officials would have to answer for how well their liquor stores operate. Jon Williams, chairman of the state ABC Commission, also recommended allowing private retailers to sell liquor in areas where there is not enough business to support a profitable ABC store.
Act covers Dell workers WINSTON-SALEM — Dell Inc. employees affected by the pending closing of the local plant have been approved for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Act benefits, the U.S. Labor Department said yesterday. The act provides extended unemployment, health-insurance and training benefits to employees whose jobs were eliminated related to foreign competition or the shift in production/supply of services to other countries.
U.S. 52 bridge work to start WINSTON-SALEM — Construction crews will soon be starting work on two new bridges to replace the two outdated bridges where U.S. 52 crosses over Liberty Street near Smith Reynolds Airport. When the work is finished in late 2012, state officials said, the new bridges will each be three lanes wide and built to interstate highway standards. The bridge crosses the Norfolk Southern switching yard as well as Airport Road.
Regulating the Regulators: Seven Reforms for Sensible Regulatory Policy in North Carolina The excessive regulatory power allowed by North Carolina imposes great costs on its citizens and businesses and hurts the economic competitiveness of the state. This report identifies seven reforms that North Carolina should adopt to improve the regulatory environment in the state.
Trust But Verify: Open government is better government Executive Summary
Governments have been seeking ways to adopt or advertise their efforts at open government, sunshine, and transparency. Recent history is rife, however, with examples of how they have failed – such as Gov. Mike Easley’s financial dealings and the hole in the state health plan.
Open government helps build trust with taxpayers. Tools that improve openness with taxpayers have also helped government officials and managers better use their resources. Some state and local governments found ways to save money through improved transparency.
Financial transparency is an important step toward open government. Online budgets, contracts, salaries, and check registers make information more accessible. Corporate financial statements provide a model in clarity and accessibility. Too many government documents are not searchable in any way. When tied to outcome measures such as test scores in education, this greater accessibility can provide better insight about which government programs work and which ones do not.
Process transparency opens the closed doors elected officials try to hide behind when drafting laws. Putting bills online 72 hours before debate and voting begin, instead of in the middle of the night the day of a vote, would leave fewer surprises in legislation. Five-year fiscal projections for state and local budgets would also make clear the impacts of program changes over time, not just for the year or two a budget is in effect. Governments should also take further steps to publicize their meetings beforehand, record their proceedings, and make minutes or archived recordings available online.
Regulatory transparency means making the proceedings of non-elected bodies as open as those of the legislature, county commissions, and town councils. Proposed regulations should be easier to find and understand for those with an interest. The state auditor or an independent body should perform any audits or performance reviews. Reviews should cover not just how well an agency or program accomplishes its mission, but also whether the mission is appropriate for government.
Why Transparency Matters
Open government is needed for a healthy democracy. Yet much of how government operates is unknown. Carolina Journal first reported on Gov. Easley’s financial dealings in 2006, but it took until Bev Perdue took office and opened state police records for details to emerge.
The state spent as much as $226 million in excess cost for mental health services over three years. It took months for the costs to become large enough to gain attention and the full extent of the problem was not realized until the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division presented its findings in July 2009. The $250 million hole for 2009 in the state health plan also caught legislators by surprise.
Open government builds trust and improves government operations. It can even save money, as witnessed in Texas, where the state comptroller found $73,000 dollars in savings just through cutting the number of contracts for toner cartridges.
There are many facets of open government. The John Locke Foundation created the web site NCTransparency.com to improve online fiscal transparency, and the response from local governments has been very promising. The Greensboro News & Record complained that Guilford County commissioners work behind closed doors too much. Guilford is not alone. Few governments broadcast their meetings online or on television. Fewer still post proposed ordinances, rule changes, or even agendas online in advance of their meetings. Open contracting with competitive bidding is another essential element of open government.
Making information accessible is about more than making it available. Citizens need to be able to understand it. Elected and unelected officials need to change their approach to information. It is not simply about responding to citizen requests for information. The problem is that government documents are often difficult to understand even for those who use them on a daily basis. Is it any wonder that few citizens ask for budget information when that information comes in a form that is almost unintelligible?
Asheville, for example, has its budget available in twelve sections plus a glossary. Wake County Commissioner Stan Norwalk voted against putting information online because he worried about both the cost of putting data online and the effect on county employees who would “be bombarded with so many requests for information … that they will spend too much time dealing with frivolous inquiries.”
The answer, however, is neither to avoid making the information available nor just to put it online in any format. The answer is to present the information online in a way that can be easily understood.
The remainder of this paper will examine the three aspects of open government – fiscal transparency, process transparency, and regulatory transparency. Each section will provide examples of what transparency means in that area, steps governments are taking to become more transparent, and opportunities to improve transparency.
Why Transparency? Creating trust in government Open government is just as important in a modern republic as it was two centuries ago. Larger bureaucratic states threatened to overwhelm the ability of citizens and their representatives to keep track of government. Revelations of corrupt government officials, fraud in various programs, subsidies to chosen groups or companies, and laws written by lobbyists still surface. Fortunately, more tools are available every day to make more information available from more governments to more people.
The John Locke Foundation is taking steps to help governments become more open. Our NCTransparency.com site helps taxpayers find government information online and gives grades for a quick check of how much is available for a state agency, local government, or school district. Our latest policy report on transparency provides three areas for improved transparency and some examples of what is already available.
This guide has four sections:
How to think about transparency
How to increase financial transparency
How to expand transparency to the process of governing
Crucial Questions: A Checklist for School Board Candidates and Citizens According to the North Carolina General Statutes, school boards have three broad functions: 1) to maintain general control and supervision of all matters pertaining to the public schools, 2) to enforce and execute the school law, and 3) to ensure that the administration of schools is efficiently and more economically accomplished.
Within the scope of these broad functions, state law outlines hundreds of guidelines, recommendations, and requirements related to the work of the state’s 115 school boards. Even seasoned school board members often find the work to be laborious and complex. Unfortunately, these challenges often discourage parental involvement, as well as deter competent members of the community from pursuing a seat on a local board of education.
To simplify the process of understanding the work of school boards, the John Locke Foundation has developed a checklist for school board candidates and citizens. Checklist items are not direct quotes of state statutes, although several include key language used in them. Instead, this checklist applies existing statutes to five fundamental principles about the work conducted by local boards of education.
School board members must adhere to the powers and duties granted to local boards of education by state and federal law.
School board members must ensure that the public school system spends as much of its taxpayer dollars as possible on classroom instruction.
School board members must ensure that the public school system minimizes wasteful bureaucratic and programmatic expenditures.
School board members must work to best meet the educational needs of children, families, and communities in which they live. To this end, school board members should collaborate with charter, private, and home schools, as well as post-secondary institutions in their jurisdiction. Public school systems exist for the benefit of families; families do not exist for the benefit of school systems.
School board members must ensure that the school system is fully transparent. The school board must guarantee that the public has easily accessible, searchable, and timely information about all aspects of the operation of the school system, except those subject to confidentiality statutes.
Each question on the checklist is followed by one or more references to the applicable statute. The appendix provides a list of education resources from the John Locke Foundation Research Division.
