Extend Government Transparency to New Mexico Schools

In recent years, there has been a big push for transparency in government throughout New Mexico. The Rio Grande Foundation and the Foundation for Open Government, along with a large and bi-partisan group of legislators, have generated some major successes.

This initiative has been driven in part by new technologies that make information more accessible to the average citizen and easier for governments to disseminate. It has gathered particular support in New Mexico because of rampant corruption and the realization that “sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

So, coming in July 2011, New Mexicans will have access to a brand new “Sunshine Portal” that will create a publicly accessible, online database of financial information from government agencies in New Mexico. The database will include the names and salaries of exempt employees (but not the names of classified employees) and will allow average citizens to scrutinize the state’s checkbook in an easy-to-navigate, online format.

That is not all. In 2010, the New Mexico House finally joined the New Mexico Senate and the rest of the country in posting its floor votes online; the legislature began webcasting floor proceedings; and just recently the legislative council decided to start webcasting legislative interim committee meetings.

Great progress has been made. But, as the foundation put together its new public website www.newmexicospending.com which is designed to further enhance open government and citizen engagement in determining how their scarce dollars are spent, we discovered that government-run, taxpayer-financed school district bureaucrats are often unwilling to part with supposedly public information. Even if they are willing to part with the information, they often demand exorbitant amounts of money even for electronic documents.

First and foremost, the specifics of our requests: these included payroll and vendor information for the last three years. The idea is that this is all taxpayer money and that taxpayers should have specific information on how their money is being used. Also, there is the opportunity – once this information is public across several school districts – for some comparison and for districts to learn from each other to wring out further efficiency.

While Roswell, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Clovis, and Farmington were relatively cooperative and their information has been uploaded to our site, Santa Fe and Rio Rancho were inconsistent. At times they cooperated by providing needed information, but at other times they demanded upwards of $1,200 for relevant public information.

Worse still were Albuquerque Public Schools and Las Cruces Public Schools which refused to part with any information at all. Mind you, this is all public information. But, tactics included not returning phone calls and corresponding only via U.S. mail as opposed to via telephone or e-mail.

Ultimately, we were unable to obtain any information from either district.

(Editor’s note: Salaries for Las Cruces Public Schools employees can be found at lcsun-news.com)

Thus, taxpayers in New Mexico’s two largest school districts will continue to be left in the dark about the specifics of how their money is spent. The good news is that our efforts to shed some light on the way school districts spend your money has captured the interest of a bi-partisan group of legislators who are now considering legislation adding school district salary and vendor transaction information to the Sunshine Portal.

Instead of being a burden on the districts, greater transparency could actually be an important step toward greater efficiency. This is more important than ever as New Mexico continues to struggle with budget cutbacks. Hopefully the recalcitrant districts will not pose an obstacle to legislative reform efforts, but I expect push-back if they maintain their current, uncooperative stance.

Citizens should be empowered and we encourage those who live in districts that have willingly released information to thank them for doing so. For those living in recalcitrant districts, I hope you’ll let them know that you expect greater transparency and openness.

Paul Gessing is the president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility.