Dear KISD Board of Trustees:

We understand that Ms. Helen Eriksen, of the Houston Chronicle, has asked this district if they would be willing to post its check register online. According to Ms. Eriken’s online story there are apparently numerous districts that have already adopted this practice. Ms. Peyton Wolcott, a fellow taxpayer advocate, has posted a great deal of information on her web site about this practice. Even the Texas Education Agency (“TEA”) has announced that they will begin posting their check register online.

True to form, Mr. Steve Stanford, of the KISD Communications Department, was very noncommittal in his response to Ms. Eriksen when asked if our district was contemplating such a measure. To date, none of us have heard anything further from the district as to this matter.

Now I realize that under the Texas Public Information Act any private citizen can request a copy of this register from the district. But why not just go ahead and post the register on line? You know posting the register online will go a very long way in showing this community that this district wants to make an effort in being transparent in its actions.

Each of you have been elected stewards of our hard-earned tax dollars, and as such each of you have a fiduciary responsibility to manage those dollars efficiently and in a transparent manner. Whether real or imagined there are many in our community who perceive the actions of our Board to be cloaked in secrecy.

Posting the KISD check register online would be a great public relations move; one which we would herald as a huge step forward for our Board and our district. The Watchdog$ therefore sincerely hope that the Board will put this matter on an upcoming agenda, discuss it openly and in the end vote to post the information online. Many of the other districts that already post this information are reporting that it doesn’t cost them a dime.

It would really be great if for once the Watchdog$ and the Board could support something together. It would really be great if for once we didn’t have to be adversarial on something as simple as posting a check register online. After all, it’s all of our money.

Christopher E. Cottrell
Katy
Co-Founder/Katy Citizen Watchdog$

We understand that Ms. Helen Eriksen, of the Houston Chronicle, has asked this district if they would be willing to post its check register online. According to Ms. Eriken’s online story there are apparently numerous districts that have already adopted this practice. Ms. Peyton Wolcott, a fellow taxpayer advocate, has posted a great deal of information on her web site about this practice. Even the Texas Education Agency (“TEA”) has announced that they will begin posting their check register online.

Christopher E. Cottrell
Katy
Co-Founder/Katy Citizen Watchdog$