July 22, 2008

College of DuPage Board of Trustees
Michael McKinnon, Board Chairman
425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn, IL  60137

Dear Michael,

The College of DuPage is an Illinois good government model. 

Inviting constituent review and transparent with vendor spending, school leadership is now publically accountable for decisions.  Recognized locally by the editorial page of the Suburban Life Newspapers and nationally by the Washington D.C. National Examiner, the College of DuPage Board of Trustees is a national leader in financial transparency.  Your transparency initiatives have demonstrated simple respect for the taxpayers of DuPage County.

Recognizing the fact that the Board has made a commitment to openness and transparency, I hereby suggest posting the salary information of all administration, faculty, and staff.  This would be accomplished by annually posting the employee name, position, and salary on the schools existing website.

By proactively posting administration, faculty, and staff salaries, the College of DuPage can once again spearhead much needed transparency within Illinois community colleges.  At COD, $106 million of the total operating budget of $146 million is spent on administration, faculty, and staff salaries. 

Our proposal does not change the law, only the path to information access.  The salary information of Illinois community colleges is already the public’s right to know under the Freedom of Information Act. 

Furthermore, DuPage County property taxpayers- who fund half of the COD budget-  are fully transparent.  Found in DuPage County libraries, the Illinois public records database is an online records bank containing such information as private property owners’ name, address, date of sale, square footage, number of bathrooms, bedrooms, and lot size of any property.

Thank you for prioritizing and implementing transparency at the College of DuPage.  Please give strong consideration to the next step-  posting all salary information.

Sincerely,

Adam Andrzejewski