From The Denver Post:  The government’s business is supposed to be the people’s business, but that’s sometimes hard to believe when it’s conducted behind closed doors. Proposition 104, which would make school districts’ collective bargaining process open for all to see, is a useful step in the direction of transparency.

Voters should approve it.

The measure proposes an expansion of the state’s open meetings law to include collective bargaining discussions.

“The most important thing [school boards] do is negotiate this contract,” said Jon Caldara, a proponent of the measure and president of the Independence Institute, a free market think tank. “It is 85 percent of the budget in most school districts.”

He’s right about the contract being critically important. Also, the contract does more than just determine salaries and budgets. It directly affects the conditions under which students learn and teachers work.

That’s why a transparent process is needed. To begin with, it would let the public see whether both sides — the board and union — are making reasonable proposals and whether they’re willing to compromise.

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