Information is currency for democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson
A day without sunshine is like, you know,
night. -
Steve Martin
Education is unique among consumer products;
when it fails to work as advertised, it's the customer that gets labeled as
defective. - Kevin
Killion
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Courage is the most important of all
the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other
virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind or fair or
humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have
it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "The threat is too much.
The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
Open Government
"I believe if taxpayers are going to foot the bill,
they are entitled to look at every item on the receipt."
As a citizen, you
have the right to inspect public information in the care, custody and
control of Eanes ISD, a public school district funded by our tax dollars.
Yes, this includes teachers and employees of the school district.
When making a
request to obtain public information, you have the right
to request copies
of documents or you may request to
inspect and review documents/ If you request to
inspect or review documents, after viewing you may then request copies of
all of some of the information.
To learn more about reasonable charges to obtain copies visit
Texas
Attorney General website - Charges for Public Information.
Access public
information by submitting a written request to Eanes ISD by email
at
openrecords@eanes.k12.tx.us.
See sample requests below.
The
date that the request is submitted in considered Day Zero. Within ten
10 business days (not including school holidays or weekends) the
district must respond in
one of three ways:
1. Produce all responsive public information requested
2. Provide a "date and hour" that the public information will be available
for inspection (if the information is not immediately
available.)
3. Request an opinion ruling from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG)
to withhold the public information from public inspection.
If the district
does not respond in an appropriate and/or timely way, the requestor has the
right to file a written complaint with the Office of the Attorney General,
District Attorney and/or County Attorney.
A
reporter once said to me, "When you deny the records, you begin the story."
It was
one of those days in the superintendent's office
when the secretary just couldn't seem to catch her
breath. With the phone to her ear as she typed her
report on the computer, she noticed a stranger
walking through the door of her office. It was a
small town in rural America and she hadn't seen this
man before.
"What can I do for you, sir?" she
asked. The citizen offered his name, then asked for
a copy of the salary schedules for central-office
administrators.
Her response: "I've never seen you
before in my life. How do I know you aren't an
undercover reporter?"
A hundred miles down the road in a
large metropolitan city, an education reporter
walked into the high school principal's office to
ask the secretary for a copy of the principal's
contract. The principal, who had been ridiculed the
week before in the newspaper, overheard the
reporter's request. Stepping from his office, he
sarcastically remarked, "What the heck do you want
that for? All you ever do is criticize us."
Whether it was ignorance or
arrogance, these two public officials made a serious
mistake. In addition to violating this state's Open
Records Act, their unwillingness to cooperate
created in the visitor's mind a sense of doubt,
suspicion and mistrust for themselves and their
public institutions. A reporter once said to me,
"When you deny the records, you begin the story."
“The public's right to know is vital to an
accountable, citizen-centered government. Simply put, we are entitled to be
fully informed, with an open and accessible government, at all levels, in
virtually all circumstances. Government is not created independent of the
people. Rather, it is founded on the people's authority and exists for their
benefit. That ideal is reinforced in the Texas Public Information Act, which
says that the people "do not give their public servants the right to decide what
is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know." Instead,
people have the right to know what their government is doing.”
The best public relations people in
government are those who see as
their bosses the people - taxpayers
and citizens - and believe
passionately that their role is to
get information to those citizens.
This is not easy. Yet, people who
care about the process and open
government must explain that the
fleeting pain of
bright sunlight
is
nothing compared to surgically
revealed secret.And it is the noble
official, indeed, who puts service
to the citizen before self-interest.
Officials should make the decisions.
The best decisions by government
follow an instinct for openness, not
an instinct for limiting disclosure
to only that which a lawyer says is
required.
In fighting for open
records, don't lose sight of the
fact that the business of government
is the people's business, by Rich Oppel.
From the Texas Public Information Act:
An educational agency or institution that is
state-funded may withhold from public disclosure information that is
excepted from required disclosure by section 552.114 as a “student record,”
insofar as the “student record” is protected by FERPA (Family
Education Rights and Privacy Act), without the necessity
of requesting an attorney general decision as to that exception.
Further, according to the Texas Public
Information Act, "all governmental
bodies responding to information requests have the right to request and receive
clarification of vague or overly broad requests".
All governmental bodies responding to information requests have the
responsibility to:
• Treat all requestors equally
• Be informed about open records laws and educate employees on the requirements
of those laws
• Inform the requestor of cost estimates and any changes in the estimates
• Confirm that the requestor agrees to pay the costs before incurring the costs
• Provide requested information promptly
• Inform the requestor if the information will not be provided within ten
business
days and give an estimated date on which it will be provided
• Cooperate with the requestor to schedule reasonable times for inspecting or
copying
information
• Follow Texas Building and
Procurement Commission regulations on charges; not overcharge on any items; not bill for
items that must be provided without charge
• Inform third parties if their proprietary information is being requested from
the
governmental body
• Inform the requestor when the
Office of the
Attorney General has been asked to rule on whether
information
may or must be withheld
• Comply with any OAG ruling on whether an exception applies, or file suit
against
the OAG within 30 days
• Respond in writing to all written communications from the TBPC or the OAG
regarding complaints about violations of the Act
Government Code Chapter 552. Public Information
Under the fundamental philosophy of the American
constitutional form of representative government that adheres to the principle
that government is the servant and not the master of the people, it is the
policy of this state that each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly
provided by law, at all times to complete information
about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and
employees.
The
people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to
decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to
know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control
over the instruments they have created. The provisions of this chapter shall be
liberally construed to implement this policy.
Historical
Background
The Texas Public Information Act (the “Public Information Act” or the “Act”) was
adopted in 1973 by the reform-minded Sixty-third Legislature.1 The Sharpstown
scandal, which occurred in 1969 and came to light in 1971, provided the
motivation for several enactments opening up government to the people.
