Monday, December 23, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Sunday, June 9, 2019
DOE, Fork Over That General Ledger!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 4558 Views :: Education K-12, Ethics

DOE, Fork Over That General Ledger!

by Tom Yamachika, President, Tax Foundation Hawaii

The Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie’s son has come home from school, and today he has a few more questions than usual.

Q. Dad! What’s a general ledger?

A. Grrr...I’m trying to write an article here. Why don’t you ask Mom?

Q. She just chased me out of the kitchen.

A. Oh? Okay then. Hmm...lots of businesses and organizations keep track of their finances using an accounting system. The system keeps track of money that is received or paid and breaks it up into categories.

For example, if your school used $20 in cash to buy pencils for your classroom, the system would record on the general ledger a “debit” to classroom supplies for $20 and a “credit” to cash of $20.

Q. Why do you count the $20 twice?

A. Once is to keep track of how much money you have, and the other is to keep track of what happened to it. The debits and credits must always total the same number, otherwise you’ve lost track of either the money or what it was used for.

Q. So the general ledger is where all the money gets recorded?

A. Right. Why the sudden interest in accounting?

Q. My school told me there’s an organization called the Education Institute of Hawaii that wants to see the general ledger for the whole Department of Education.

A. Well, sure. General ledgers are government records and should be accessible to the public.

Q. But my teacher says that what she gets paid is private information and the government shouldn’t be giving it out.

A. Individual salaries are private information. But most big employers pay their employees on a separate system, and only totals get put on the general ledger. So, releasing the general ledger isn’t supposed to expose private information.

Q. Is that what our school does?

A. I don’t know. But even if there is some private information in the general ledger, there should be a way to take that information out so the public can examine the rest of the ledger.

Q. So my teacher says the Education Institute is going to sue to get the information. She says it’s dumb because all the financial information is supposed to go into a system that will be public next year anyway.

A. Well, just because information is “supposed” to be released in some form at some point in the future is no excuse for refusing to turn it over now to a member of the public who is requesting it.

Q. So is my school going to go to court? Maybe they’ll be next to the Kealoha trial.

A. We’ll see...maybe they’ll go to court, but it’s a different court from the Kealoha trial so it’ll be in a different building at least.

Mom: Dinner’s ready!

A. Whew! Saved by the bell!

---30---

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii