Before and After: What Citizens Lost
Every year, Illinois school districts file an Annual Statement of Affairs — a complete list of every vendor paid more than $2,500. For over two decades, those records were centralized at ISBE.net, where any citizen, journalist, or researcher could download vendor payment data for any of the 864 school districts in a single searchable location. HB2986 eliminated that central database.
Any citizen could go to ISBE.net, download the Annual Statement of Affairs for any of the 864 school districts — every vendor paid over $2,500, all in one searchable place. Statewide comparison was possible. One search. One database. 864 districts.
The central database is gone. Districts now post the ASA on their own websites — no uniform format, no central search. To see vendor payments for 864 districts you now need to visit 864 separate websites. Some may not post at all. Nobody is checking.
The Illinois Association of School Boards Described It As a "Cleanup"
IASB described the bill as requiring districts to post the ASA on their own websites — true, but carefully omitting what was removed: the central ISBE database that made statewide comparison possible. Posting on 864 separate sites without a uniform format is not transparency. It is the appearance of transparency while making accountability impossible.
Who Carried This Bill and Why It Matters
HB2986 originated as an ISBE agency request — meaning the state education agency itself requested elimination of its own central transparency database. The request was then carried by two legislators.
HB2986 — Sponsors of Record
The full roll call — every YES vote mapped to their school districts — is being pulled from ILGA.gov and will be published here. Every legislator who voted yes will see their name next to the school districts their constituents can no longer easily audit.
The School Board Pattern HB2986 Now Protects
This is not an abstract transparency issue. The database that HB2986 destroyed is exactly what would have exposed the following documented pattern — and what will now be far harder to replicate in other districts.
D230: The Pattern That HB2986 Protects
D230 Board President Lynn Zeder was aware of Pekau's proposed three new TIF districts (Andrew Corp, Petey's II, Lincoln Mercury) — which, if created, would have drained millions from D230 — and said nothing publicly. When Trustee Mohammed Jaber issued a public press release demanding Pekau suspend the proposed TIFs until he filed two years of delinquent village financial audits, Zeder attacked Jaber at a public board meeting on September 19, 2024. Pekau defended Zeder in his official mayoral eNewsletter. The three new TIFs never reached a public hearing or creation vote before Pekau lost his re-election bid in April 2025 — largely because Jaber and Hanania forced the issue publicly.
The same pattern exists across four Tinley Park school districts — none of which have ever publicly challenged Mayor Glotz's Gas N Wash gaming network. The vendor payment database was the tool that could cross-reference those payments. It is gone.
This audit captured the data before it disappeared. The vendor payments from all six affected school districts are being cross-referenced now. Results publish July 6, 2026.
Four Years of Data Before It Disappeared
This audit systematically downloaded the Annual Statement of Affairs files from ISBE.net before HB2986 took effect. Every vendor payment. Every district. Four complete fiscal years.
The Illinois School District Audit Vendor Database
Complete capture before HB2986 eliminated 105 ILCS 5/2-3.28
Fiscal years captured: FY2020, FY2021, FY2022, FY2023 — filed at ISBE.net before elimination. The data exists. We have it. We are publishing every dollar.
When the Data Publishes
2026
HB2986 analysis, sponsor identification, the before/after, what was captured. Legislative history page publishes simultaneously with 25 years of laws that dismantled oversight and the 9 immediate fixes.
2026
First time ever. Every vendor payment from Bremen CHSD 228, Tinley Park CCSD 146, Arbor Park SD 145, Prairie-Hills ESD 144, Orland SD 135, and CHSD 230 — cross-referenced against the full Glotz/Morrison/McEnery network.
2026
Every school board member in Illinois, mapped to vendor payments and political donation networks. Every local paper in the state can write about their own school board that day.
Rep. D. Turner and Sen. Blair-Sherlock Must Act
The fix is one page. The ASA Database Restoration Act must be introduced in the fall 2026 session — restoring 105 ILCS 5/2-3.28 to its pre-HB2986 form. The central ISBE database must be rebuilt. Every district. Uniform format. Statewide search.
If Rep. D. Turner and Sen. Blair-Sherlock refuse to introduce this bill, their constituents will know their school district vendor payments are now harder to see — and that they made that choice.
If They Refuse
This audit will publish the names of every legislator who voted YES on HB2986 next to the name of every school district in their territory. Voters in every one of those districts will know that their representative chose to make school spending harder to see — and they will know it before November 2026.