District expenditures have always been public information, but a formal request to view them had to be submitted. Now, the expenditures can be viewed online by visiting on the District's Business Department web page and clicking on "Check Register."

"We want to make our operations more transparent to the public," Superintendent John Folks said. "Our voters have passed five consecutive bond issues, so I think this is the right thing to do to maintain and build the trust of our community."

The last three months of expenditures will be posted, month by month, in a PDF format, on the NISD web site. Each month contains anywhere from 200 to 300 pages of expenditures, and all expenditures are listed alphabetically.

The expenditures reflect all activities related to the operations of the District, which educates more than 85,500 students and has a total budget of more than $900 million, said George Torres, deputy superintendent for business and financial services.

"The register is big, but this is a very big district," Torres said. "Currently, there is no requirement in Texas that school districts post their checkbook online. The online registry is a service to our taxpayers."