After the Dallas Independent School District announced last summer that it had outspent its operating budget by tens of millions of dollars, administrators had a choice: be as transparent as possible in order to restore faith in the beleaguered district or close ranks and be as secretive as ever.

For those who followed the school district for any length of time, you may have guessed they'd go with option two. After all, this is a district that once threatened to report me to the authorities after I toured a school with a parent. My capital offense: I didn't sign in.

But the district has chosen more transparency, not less, on the heels of last year's crisis. District officials, including superintendent Michael Hinojosa, have spoke candidly about what happened and administrators have put key documents—even unflattering ones—about the district’s finances on its homepage. This includes a “Financial Corrective Action Plan” that serves as an unflinching guide to how the district will recover from its current fiscal mess.

The school district also puts information about its 2002 and 2008 bond programs on its homepage as well as handy tools to report fraud and abuse -- and tips on how to submit a public records request.

It’s all good, user-friendly stuff. But it could be better.

Check register, budget information

The district recently took down its online check register, which allowed the public to keep a close, micro-level watch on the system’s finances.

Spokesman Jon Dahlander says the district is working out a few kinks and that it plans to post the register soon. At issue is how DISD can make sure that none of its checks include sensitive student information.

The district could also do a better job of making basic budget information easier to find. When I recently checked the homepage, I was at a loss to find an up-to-date budget report. But Dahlander directed me to it.

First you click the “About Dallas ISD" tab on the top left corner of the page. Then you click on another link—this one titled “General Information” on the left side. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see links to budget documents.

Given the district’s financial travails, the school district should just link to all that info on its homepage with a clearly marked tab.

UPDATE (10:23 p.m.): Although it's like pulling teeth to find, it does appear the school district has maintained a PDF version of check transactions, by month. We found July and September, with no luck at finding other months yet. Any of our readers know how to find the underlying URL? Post to the comments below or e-mail us at news@texaswatchdog.org.