From 2000 to 2025, the Illinois General Assembly passed law after law that moved in one direction: less transparency, less competition, less oversight, less accountability. No single law was catastrophic. Together they created a system where 864 school districts spend $30 billion per year and nobody knows who gets paid.
"Every law in this document was passed by named legislators. Every one of them is accountable. Every change that needs to happen is listed with the specific bill language required."
Every law that reduced public accountability in Illinois school districts. Red rows are urgent — their damage is most visible in this audit right now.
| Year | Bill / PA | Sponsor(s) | What Changed | What Citizens Lost | The Fix Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | PA 91-0715 | Rep. Schoenberg / Sen. Madigan | Competitive bid threshold raised from $10,000 to $25,000. Any contract under $25K now awarded by superintendent alone with no competitive process. | Citizens lost the right to know if the district got the best price on thousands of contracts annually. Suppliers with political connections win without competition. | Lower threshold back to $10,000. Require 3 written quotes for any contract $5,000–$25,000. Publish all awards online within 10 days. |
| 2003 | SB 2829 "Less Red Tape" | Blagojevich administration / Rep. Currie / Sen. Trotter | Eliminated school improvement panels. Removed State Superintendent approval. Reduced ASA newspaper publication requirements. Eliminated Life Safety completion accountability reporting. | No external check on whether Life Safety funds are spent on Life Safety. Districts can redirect levies without independent verification. ASA publication reduced. | Restore external completion audit for all Life Safety projects over $100,000. Restore State Superintendent review for districts in watch status. |
| 2005 | PA 94-0600 URGENT | Rep. Hannig / Sen. Link | Professional services — legal, insurance, architecture, engineering, consulting — explicitly exempted from competitive bidding requirements. | The largest contracts now awarded with zero competitive process. One law firm represents 527 districts. One insurance manager controls two statewide risk pools. No bid. No proposal. No comparison. | Require competitive RFP for all professional services over $50,000. Require public disclosure of all proposals. Prohibit same firm representing adverse parties without written waiver. |
| 2007 | SB 0572 TIF Amendment | Rep. Currie / Sen. Hutchinson | Codified that school districts cannot compel municipalities to compensate for TIF increment loss. No notification requirement before new TIF creation. | School districts have no legal remedy when municipalities create TIFs that freeze their tax base for 23 years. D135 had to threaten litigation just to get to the table. | Require mandatory school district consent OR statutory compensation before any new TIF creation. Require annual TIF impact report filed with ISBE. 60-day notice to all affected taxing bodies. |
| 2008 | PA 95-0813 | Rep. Fritchey / Sen. Cullerton | Regional Superintendents reduced from 45 to 35 through population threshold changes. ROE offices consolidated. Oversight staff per district ratio increased. | Oversight staff stretched thin. Compliance visits reduced. Districts know ROE is overloaded. Financial irregularities go undetected for years. | Restore full ROE staffing. Create dedicated financial compliance division within each ROE. Require annual in-person financial review for every district over $10M budget. |
| 2009 | PA 96-0734 | Rep. Eddy / Sen. Frerichs | School board member term limits amended — changed how consecutive terms calculated in certain districts. Made it easier for long-serving board members to reset their term count. | Long-serving board members entrench. Same individuals control district vendor relationships for decades. No fresh perspective on conflicts that develop over time. | Mandatory 12-year maximum consecutive service limit for all school board members statewide. Uniform calculation method. No grandfather exceptions. |
| 2010 | PA 96-1452 PTELL | Rep. Nekritz / Sen. Kotowski | Property Tax Extension Limitation Law tightened — capped annual increases at 5% or CPI whichever is lower. Combined with TIF expansion, schools face revenue squeeze from both directions. | Schools cannot raise levies to compensate for TIF losses. Trapped between TIF freeze at the bottom and PTELL cap at the top. D230 receives 90% from local taxes — any TIF diversion hits directly. | Require TIF increment losses to be excluded from PTELL cap calculations for affected school districts. Schools should not be penalized twice for municipal TIF decisions. |
| 2012 | PA 97-0908 PERA | Rep. Nekritz / Sen. Biss | Performance Evaluation Reform Act — added new evaluation requirements without corresponding funding. Compliance paperwork burden increased significantly. | Administrative time diverted from financial oversight to evaluation compliance. Districts hire outside consultants — often politically connected — to manage PERA compliance. New uncompetitive vendor category created. | Fully fund all evaluation requirements at state level. Prohibit hiring of outside PERA consultants without competitive bid. Require ISBE to provide free evaluation framework templates. |
| 2014 | PA 98-0648 EBF Predecessor | Rep. Davis / Sen. Lightford | Changed school funding adequacy calculation methodology. Shifted attention to adequacy gaps rather than TIF losses. | The TIF loss issue was obscured in the funding adequacy debate. While legislators debated state funding formulas, municipalities quietly expanded TIF districts draining local revenue. Two issues never analyzed together. | Require ISBE annual report calculating combined TIF impact and state funding inadequacy for every district. Publish as one number so citizens see the full picture. |
| 2017 | PA 100-0413 EBF | Rep. Davis / Sen. Manar | Evidence-Based Funding formula enacted. Changed how state distributes education funds. Did not address TIF losses, professional services bidding exemption, or board member vetting. | Improved state funding formula but left all local oversight gaps intact. Political credit taken for funding reform while structural accountability gaps remained untouched. | EBF is sound policy — keep it. But pair it with the oversight restoration legislation listed in this document. Funding reform without accountability reform is incomplete. |
| 2019 | PA 101-0221 | Rep. Harris / Sen. Castro | Video gaming revenue sharing formula amended. Municipalities that host gaming terminals receive increased revenue share from IGB. | Municipalities now have stronger financial incentive to approve gaming locations. The mayor is the liquor commissioner AND benefits from gaming tax revenue. Financial conflict of interest embedded in state law. | Separate gaming license approval from mayoral authority. Require independent gaming license commission for municipalities over 25,000 population. Prohibit donations from gaming operators to approving officials within 2 years. |
| 2021 | PA 102-0699 ILSBE Amendment | Rep. Crespo / Sen. Aquino | ILSBE campaign finance reporting thresholds adjusted. Small donor aggregation rules changed. Dark money reporting requirements modified. | $300,000 traveled from a Cayman Islands shell chain to a county board member's campaign. The donation was disclosed only after investigative reporting. The complaint was filed. The outcome has never been publicly reported. | Require full beneficial ownership disclosure for all political donations over $1,000. Prohibit donations from entities with foreign beneficial ownership. Require ILSBE to publish all complaint outcomes within 90 days. |
| 2023 | PA 103-0472 | Rep. Moeller / Sen. Peters | IGB expanded gaming locations — added new license categories. Streamlined municipal approval process for certain gaming location types. | More gaming locations. Faster approval. Same political donation-to-approval pipeline. No disclosure requirement for campaign donations from gaming operators to officials who approve their licenses. | Require IGB to publish all gaming license approval dates. Require municipal disclosure of any campaign donation from a gaming license applicant within 5 years of any license action. |
| 2025 | HB 2986 "ISBE Clean Up" URGENT | Rep. D. Turner / Sen. Blair-Sherlock | Eliminated 105 ILCS 5/2-3.28 — the requirement that ISBE post all Annual Statements of Affairs centrally. The only statewide vendor payment database is gone. | Citizens can no longer download vendor payments from all 864 districts in one place. This audit captured ASA20–ASA23 (3,712 files) before the database disappeared. The legislators who voted YES voted to hide this data from their own constituents. | Restore 105 ILCS 5/2-3.28 immediately. Require ISBE to post all ASAs within 30 days. Add $1,000 per day penalty for districts that fail to file. Restore the database. Searchable. 10-year rolling history. |
The accountability reforms that never happened — killed before a floor vote, not defeated on the merits.
Attempted to add reporting requirements for Life Safety projects. Implementation was weak — no penalty for non-compliance, no independent verification required. Districts learned to file paperwork without completing work.
Failed: No enforcement mechanismProposed extending competitive bidding to professional services. Passed House Education Committee. Died in Senate Rules — never called for a floor vote. The professional services lobby — law firms, insurance brokers, architects — killed it in committee. The exemption protecting no-bid monopolies has survived every reform attempt since 2005.
Killed in Senate Rules — never calledProposed requiring school board members to file economic interest statements similar to elected officials. Died in Senate — never called for a floor vote. Board members continue to serve without any public disclosure of their business interests, employer relationships, or potential conflicts.
Killed in Senate — never calledProposed requiring municipalities to notify school districts 180 days before creating any new TIF district. Passed the House. Died in Senate — never called for a floor vote. Pekau proposed three additional TIF districts (Andrew Corp, Petey's II, Lincoln Mercury) — but Jaber and Hanania publicly demanded he suspend them until delinquent village audits were filed. Those three TIFs never reached a public hearing or creation vote before Pekau lost his re-election bid in April 2025. This bill would have required 180-day advance notice before any of that was attempted.
Passed House — killed in Senate RulesProposed requiring beneficial ownership disclosure for all political donations over $500. Died in Senate Rules — never called for a floor vote. $300,000 from a Cayman Islands shell chain funded a county board member's winning margin of 2,023 votes. This bill would have exposed that before the election.
Killed in Senate Rules — never calledProposed requiring disclosure of gaming operator donations to approving officials. Died in House Rules — never called for a floor vote. A Tinley Park mayor took $31,270 from a gaming operator he then approved. This bill would have required public disclosure of that relationship before every license vote.
Killed in House Rules — never calledEvery accountability reform in this list was killed before a floor vote. Not defeated — killed in Rules, never called. The legislators who control the Rules committees are the same legislators who benefit from the exemptions and the dark money and the bidding waivers. The system protects itself.
No more studies. No more task forces. These are the specific problems, the specific fixes, and the specific committees that have jurisdiction right now.
Every legislator who voted YES on HB 2986 voted to eliminate the only database where citizens could see what their school districts paid every vendor.
This audit captured 3,712 files covering four years of vendor payments from all 864 Illinois school districts before the database was destroyed. We are publishing every dollar.
The legislators listed below voted to make this data invisible to their own constituents. The full roll call is public record at ilga.gov — search HB2986, 2025 session.
| Role | Legislator | Springfield Contact | The Question to Ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| House Sponsor | Rep. D. Turner | 217-782-8100 | Why did you sponsor a bill that destroyed the only database where citizens could see school district vendor payments? Will you introduce the restoration bill? |
| Senate Sponsor | Sen. Blair-Sherlock | 217-782-7746 | Why did you sponsor a bill that destroyed the only database where citizens could see school district vendor payments? Will you introduce the restoration bill? |
| All YES Votes — House | Pull full roll call from ILGA HB2986 2025 | Springfield main: 217-782-2000 | Did you read the bill? Did you know it eliminated the vendor payment database? Will you sponsor the restoration bill? |
| All YES Votes — Senate | Pull full roll call from ILGA HB2986 2025 | Springfield main: 217-782-5811 | Did you read the bill? Did you know it eliminated the vendor payment database? Will you sponsor the restoration bill? |
| NO Votes / Not Voting | Pull from ILGA roll call | Pull individual contacts from ILGA | Will you sponsor the restoration bill? This audit will publish the full roll call and name every legislator who refused. |
These gaps cannot wait for legislation. Regulatory action is available now.
No Illinois law prohibits a municipality's top appointed official from simultaneously serving on the school board of a district whose tax base is frozen by that municipality's TIF districts. One official served as Village Clerk AND school board Vice President simultaneously — voting on school finances while serving the administration withholding the district's TIF payments. This is not a legislative gap — ISBE can close it by rule immediately.
No Illinois law requires school board presidents to present all member motions. A board president called a new motion "Old Business," preventing it from receiving a second. When the member spoke publicly, the online audio went silent. Roberts Rules of Order apply to all Illinois public bodies — but the penalty for violating them is effectively zero. ISBE needs enforcement authority over board meeting procedure violations.
No Illinois agency cross-references school district vendor payments against political donation records. The IGB does not check whether gaming operators have donated to approving officials. The ILSBE does not cross-reference vendor payments against campaign donations. ISBE does not publish vendor payments in searchable format. This audit did it manually using ASA files. It should happen automatically every year.
The Illinois Gaming Board publishes gaming license holders. It does not publish: the approval dates, the names of the approving municipal officials, or any cross-reference to campaign donations. A documented gaming network has 24 IGB-licensed locations. The approval sequence — donation, then license, before zoning — is in official village minutes. The IGB never saw it because nobody was looking.
TIF districts are required to file annual reports with the Illinois comptroller. Those reports are public. But no agency calculates the cumulative impact on school districts and publishes it in a format parents can understand. One TIF removed $15.6M from schools over 20 years and created a $27.4M negative balance. No ISBE report. No comptroller report. No school district ever calculated it. This audit is doing it for the first time.
Multiple municipal administrations have documented histories of FOIA obstruction — requests ignored in violation of law, staff allegedly instructed to disregard requests. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Counselor can enforce FOIA — but the process takes months. For this audit, the evidence in the public record — YouTube board meetings, Illinois Sunshine, IGB database, Cook County court filings — has proven more reliable than FOIA requests to administrations that ignore them.
The bill language exists. The committee jurisdiction is identified. The prior drafting work is done. These can be introduced the first week of the fall session.
| # | Bill Title | Key Provision | Amends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | School Board Member Background Check Act | Mandatory FBI fingerprint, sex offender registry, financial fraud database check for all candidates before petition certification. Results public. | 105 ILCS 5/10-10 |
| 2 | School Board Economic Interest Disclosure Act | Annual Statement of Economic Interests for all board members. Same form as other elected officials. Published on district website. $5,000/day ISBE penalty for violations. | 105 ILCS 5/10-10 + 5 ILCS 420 |
| 3 | Dual Role Prohibition Act | Prohibit municipality employees/appointed officials from serving on school boards of districts in overlapping TIF geographies. Immediate recusal required. | 105 ILCS 5/10-10 |
| 4 | Professional Services Competitive RFP Act | Competitive RFP required for all professional services contracts over $50,000. Minimum 3 proposals. Public board vote with written findings. No award to donor within 2 years. | 105 ILCS 5/10-20.21 |
| 5 | Gaming Donation Prohibition Act | Prohibit campaign donations from gaming operators to approving officials within 3 years of any license action. IGB verification required before any license issued or renewed. Violations: license revocation. | 230 ILCS 40 (Video Gaming Act) |
| 6 | TIF Consent and Compensation Act | 180-day advance notice to all affected taxing bodies. School district consent OR 50% increment compensation required before TIF creation. Annual TIF impact report to ISBE. | 65 ILCS 5/11-74.4 |
| 7 | ASA Database Restoration Act | Restore 105 ILCS 5/2-3.28. ISBE posts all ASAs centrally within 30 days. $1,000/day penalty for failure. Searchable database. 10-year rolling history. | 105 ILCS 5/2-3.28 |
| 8 | Beneficial Ownership and Dark Money Act | Full beneficial ownership disclosure for all donations over $500. Foreign beneficial ownership prohibited. ILSBE complaint outcomes published within 90 days. $50,000 automatic penalty. | 10 ILCS 5/9 |
| 9 | ROE Financial Oversight Restoration Act | Restore ROE staffing to pre-2008 levels. Dedicated financial compliance division. Annual in-person review for districts over $10M. Surprise audit authority. Public reporting. | 105 ILCS 5/3A |
| 10 | IGB Municipal Conflict Disclosure Act | IGB must publish all license approval dates and approving official names. Conflict-of-interest disclosure for all municipal approvals. Cross-reference with ILSBE donation database. | 230 ILCS 40 |
This Audit. This Database. This Investigation.
The vendor payment database this audit captured before it was destroyed will be published in full. Every dollar. Every district. Every vendor. Search it yourself.