District 86 Breaks State Record for Transparency in Schools

A Hinsdale school district broke state records this year by acing the Illinois Policy Institute’s transparency test and winning an award for its work.

Hinsdale Township High School District 86 received a 99-point rating — out of 100 possible points — this year, which is the highest score ever earned by a school district. Superintendent Bruce Law said in a release the district has been working hard to improve its rating since it last scored a 60.6 percent in 2014.

As a result of its improvements, District 86 received the Sunshine Award for Transparency from the Policy Institute, the release states. Out of a total 863 Illinois school districts, just 16 have been awarded the same accolade.

“We believe that public bodies should be transparent to the communities they serve,” Law said. “The aim of our newly constructed Transparency Portal on the district website gives everyone an easy, user-friendly way to find information. We are grateful to the Illinois Policy Institute for recognizing the improvements we have made and we take great pride in the score we have earned against their very high standards.”

The Policy Institute distributes grades based on a 10-point transparency checklist that evaluates the following subjects:

• Contact information
• Public meetings
• Public information
• Budgets
• Audits
• Expenditures
• Compensation
• Contracts
• Lobbying
• Taxes

More information about the grading scale is available here.

District 86 received a perfect score in the areas of elected and administrative officials, meeting information, public records, budgets, financial audits, expenditures, salaries and benefits, lobbying, taxes and fees, the Policy Institute announced.

According to the Policy Institute’s website listing the winners of Sunshine Awards over the years, the closest another school district gets to District 86’s transparency score is Community High School District 94 in West Chicago. District 94 came in with a 93.8 percent rating in 2013.

Mindy Ruckman, a policy analyst for the Policy Institute, congratulated District 86 in the release for its record-breaking score this year.

“The district’s online Transparency Portal is a vital tool for being open and accountable to its residents,” she said. “We encourage the district to continue its efforts to pursue excellence in transparency.”

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Image courtesy of District 86