Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver, has earned a reputation for being a champion of government transparency. He wants Oregonians to be able to find, easily and quickly, all sorts of information about how their government works.

Thus he was one of the sponsors, in 2009, of a bill that created the state’s transparency website, designed to make tracking money far easier than it used to be. Now he wants to expand transparency to a couple of areas of public education.

Whisnant is one of the chief sponsors of House Bills 2967 and 2968.

The former would require school districts to report annually on their English Language Learner programs, showing how much they spent on students in the programs and how well those students progressed. The latter would require districts to report on money received from the state school fund for children of families in poverty. Reports required by each bill would go to the Legislature.

Much of the information Whisnant would require is available on the state Department of Education’s website, though it’s not particularly easy to find.

As an example, school districts already test ELL students each year to track their progress and proficiency.

Money aimed at children living in poverty, meanwhile, comes from a variety of sources and is used for everything from free and reduced-price meals to teaching children to read. Other dollars, according to a report by ODE last year, do not always specifically target children in poverty but are spent on them in an effort to reduce the achievement gap.

If there’s a drawback to what Whisnant wants, it’s this: School administrators here already spend a substantial chunk of their time on keeping track of both students and money for one government agency or another. Whisnant’s bills would require still more of that sort of work.

But if legislators don’t readily have the information they need to make decisions about the education budget, they can’t make good decisions. Either ensure they get the information they need or pass these bills.