Stop chipping away at reforms that have passed

There is a price attached to the public's right to information in Illinois.

We found that out this month when state lawmakers and Gov. Patrick Quinn quickly passed a change that chips away at a celebrated new Freedom of Information Law. Performance evaluations of teachers, principals and superintendents will be exempt from FOIA laws.

This was a compromise needed to pass a law that loosely ties student performance to teacher evaluations, a connection required before Illinois could apply for a chunk of $4.3 billion in federal Race to the Top money for education.

There's no guarantee how much of the $510 million sought by Illinois schools, including many in the suburbs, will be coming this way.

The lobby that represents teachers, the Illinois Education Association, funnels millions of dollars to political campaigns, both Democrats and Republicans. The IEA wanted a deal. Before tying student performance to evaluations, lawmakers would have to change the new Freedom of Information law, one of the few reform measures approved in Illinois in the wake of corruption scandals.

This is the wrong direction. Too many suburban lawmakers supported this reversal. Their efforts would be better spent trying to advance measures advocated by the Illinois Reform Commission that never moved forward.

Suburban lawmakers who supported the change include Republicans Mark Beaubien, Tom Cross, Michael Fortner, JoAnn Osmond, Sandra Pihos, Angelo Skip Saviano, Timothy Schmitz, Darlene Senger and Democrats Linda Chapa-LaVia, Fred Crespo, Jack Franks, Paul Froehlich, Emily Klunk-McAsey, Carol Sente, Mark Walker and Eddie Washington. Waukegan Democrat Terry Link was among the only four opposing votes in the state Senate.

Quinn signed it despite his pledges to make government more transparent.

State government's leading advocate and enforcer for open records laws, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, stayed silent. She did not speak up for the parents who could have used this new law to get poor teachers out of the classroom. She did not speak up for taxpayers, who deserve to know about the performance of school superintendents who oversee the largest chunk of the property tax bill.

Madigan has championed stronger Freedom of Information laws, once telling us, "Compliance with open government laws is a foundation for eliminating a culture of secrecy in this state." We agree wholeheartedly. We have used this space to praise her efforts and celebrate passage of the law. Today, we're disappointed.

Illinois Press Association Interim Executive Director Don Craven sent Madigan a letter last week, blasting "the manner in which that language was inserted into the bill, the participation of your office in that process."

Madigan's office turns the tables on Craven, noting the Illinois Press Association has lobbyists who should have better represented the press and fought the change.

We think she's missing the point. Madigan, herself, told us that 70 percent of the state's Freedom of Information requests come from regular folks. Another 18 percent come from government agencies. Only 12 percent come from the media. She represents the people, the 70 percent of information-seekers who need access to records.

Public Access Counselor Cara Smith, whose job was empowered by the reform bill, says the attack on FOIA was just one of many attempts since the beefed-up law passed in May. The assaults come from unions, the Illinois Municipal League and others who either don't want you to access government records or don't want to do the work to provide them when asked.

We know this isn't the last time this powerful new tool will come under attack. We just hope it's the last time that lawmakers, the governor and the attorney general put a price on it.