Cronin: Why no transparency requirements in SB 1184 for online providers?

Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, asked Jason Hancock about the transparency requirements in SB 1184, which require school districts to post various spending information online. “Why have we omitted private online course providers from these transparency provisions?” Cronin asked. “Why are we not asking for transparency from private companies to see what their profit margins are, what their expenditures are … on courses that are provided?” Hancock responded that the state never requires such disclosures from private companies. “That would be an invasion of privacy and quite possibly a constitutional violation of privacy,” he told Cronin.

Cronin said, “We’re talking about expenditures of public, i.e. taxpayer dollars, and the whole idea behind these provisions is that we want accountability for these public expenditures.”