Honesty in Public Employee Compensation Analysis
The Economic Policy Institute recently released its annual study of public teacher compensation and, to almost no one’s surprise,…
San Bernardino Voters Pay the Price for Official’s Neglect of Open Records Law
San Bernardino taxpayers must now foot a $75,000 bill following a ruling in a recent public records case. The…
Los Angeles FD Payroll is Raging Out of Control
There is no doubt that firemen provide an essential service, and we owe it to our public servants to provide them with an appropriate wage, but is almost half a million dollars a year in overtime too much?
Don’t be Fooled by Teachers Unions’ Antics
Los Angeles Unified School District employees are again in an uproar and on strike. But it’s not poor academic…
How Much are California K-12 Employees Really Paid – Benefits
In this series we’ve done an in-depth dive into Transparent California’s pool of compensation records, with actual data on…
A New Way to Fight for California Transparency
The Sponsor a District Program, which is live right now on TransparentCalifornia.com, allows you to directly fund the collection of data from the districts that matter to you
It’s Sunshine Week in California!
From 2020 to 2021, the average total pay and benefits has risen from $120,892 to $126,688, an increase of 4.8%. From 2012 through 2021, the average growth rate has been 4.64%. During that time, according to the state’s Department of Industrial Relations, inflation has averaged 2.5%, meaning our public employees have been seeing their compensation rise almost twice as fast as inflation.
Transparent California Says Hello to Sunshine Week
Each year, Transparent California is proud to take part in a national celebration of government transparency known as Sunshine…
California Superintendent Salaries Continue to Rise
Transparent California’s own Todd Maddison was quoted in a recent article by the San Diego Union Tribune on the…
How Much are California K-12 Support Staff Really Paid?
Claims are often made that support staff should be paid more, but those claims are rarely accompanied by data justifying that request. Demands for higher pay are usually supported with anecdotal hardship stories, stories of low pay compared to other similar jobs, and stories of problems with attracting and retaining quality employees.
How Much are California K-12 Administrators Really Paid?
We often hear how choosing to be in education means taking a vow of poverty and making great sacrifices in their personal lives. Perhaps true in the past, but now a career in education administration no longer results in a lifetime of searching couch cushions for quarters to buy groceries
How Much are California K-12 Teachers Really Paid?
The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress shows only 52 percent of students meet or exceed standards in English, and a miniscule 31 percent in math. The “Nation’s Report Card” puts California 45th in the country, with the drop in performance called “a national concern.” ACT scores have dropped “every year of the last five.”
Incompetence at Bellflower United Hits $83 Million
An audit by the state of California found an egregious amount of mismanagement and lack of transparency from the…
Blocking of Public Records in Shasta County
A recent whistleblower document on misconduct within the Shasta Sheriff department has been verified as authentic by a police…
California State Assembly Set to Improve Public Document Access
In the latter half of 2021, the DOI attempted to institute email retention policies that would delete emails automatically after 180 days if not manually archived. Now the state assembly is doing something about it!
A New Railroad Baron? The California Utilities Commission
With most state agencies, an appeal can be filed in a local superior court, but with the Utilities Commission an appeal must be filed in the state appeals or even supreme court. This makes for a far more difficult and costly process that deters most applicants.
A Win for California Transparency!
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Michael Markman has ruled that the CalPERS Board of Administration violated California’s open meetings…
City of Industry Leads the Way in Soaring Healthcare Costs
Transparent California has now collected over 2.5 million salary and benefit records for 2020. One of the most recent…
Wasteful Retirement Spending Hurts Bay Area Teachers, Students, and Communities they Serve
Last month, the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) was issued a “lack of growing concern” determination from…
City of Fresno Scammed for Over Half a Million Dollars
City of Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer has publicly disclosed that the City of Fresno lost over half a million…
Sunshine Week is Here!
It’s Sunshine week! No, I’m not talking about the weather. I’m talking about the week that celebrates openness and…
Police Union Boss Presses for Pension Spiking
At Transparent California, we take pride in collecting information on pension benefits across the state so that taxpayers can…
San Diego Superintendents Earning More Than Their Peers
Just what does it take to become one of the highest-paid school superintendents in California? Length of tenure, rather…
Alameda County Transportation Commission Data Collection Success!
Transparent California’s mission is to get data covering every public employee in our state – millions of them from…
A New Initiative to Transform California Open Records
Since its signing in 1968, California’s open records law has been the gold standard for government transparency. It has…