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All Access
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There was no newsletter yesterday, Aug. 4.
In another unpublished opinion interpreting FOIA, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Spotsylvania County School Board on some issues, and against it in others, in a case brought against the school division by the parent of two students who needed individual education plans (IEPs)
Among the holdings:
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A requester does not have to cite FOIA to make a FOIA request—but context still matters. But in this case, it wasn’t clear that the parent was even requesting records at all and was instead seeking rights under a federal statute.
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Credibility findings about whether an oral request was made are entitled to great deference.
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A letter offering to settle a FOIA dispute, attached to a petition for mandamus, should have been interpreted as a FOIA request because it was sent to the superintendent and the FOIA officer, it specifically identified several records, and was part of an effort to settle FOIA litigation.
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Failing to respond within five working days is not merely a “technical” FOIA violation because SCSB did not give any response within the required five working days, then took over a month to produce records.
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A government’s outside attorney is not subject to FOIA. Outside attorneys are agents of the public body, but they are not public bodies themselves. Requests for records in the attorney’s possession should be made to the government.
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Local
Five Rappahannock County residents filed suit Tuesday against the Rappahannock County Public Library Board of Trustees alleging it violated Virginia’s transparency laws by refusing to release documents related to lease negotiations over a potential new library site. Represented by local attorney David Konick, the residents are seeking a draft lease with Black Kettle LLC, whose Rush River Commons development is being considered as the library’s future home. The lawsuit also alleges the board illegally deliberated the lease in closed session. … The board has contended that it may deliberate the lease behind closed doors under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and the board’s negotiating committee continued to deliberate the terms of the proposed lease in a closed session meeting last Tuesday. … Konick and his clients disagreed, and in the lawsuit argued that the proposed lease “does not involve the expenditure of public funds” and should therefore be released to the public.
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In other states-Michigan
The Michigan Department of State will provide redacted records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Republican National Committee for the personal information of everyone who has expressed an interest in becoming a poll worker in Michigan this year. “Our response to the RNC’s FOIA provides available information responsive to their inquiry. It also redacts personal and private information of citizens who signed up to serve their communities to protect them from potential threats or harassment,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor, said in a press release. A copy of the FOIA response letter sent to the RNC was attached to the press release, which noted that the original request was for “Any and all Democracy MVP Election Worker Interest Forms submitted after January 1, 2026.”
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Federal
For-profit trade schools that educate military veterans under the GI Bill have bilked the federal government out of more than $300 million, often by charging eye-popping sums for basic classes that last only a few days or weeks, according to a Washington Post investigation. In New Hampshire, an “organic lawn care institute” taught veterans how to grow grass in a course that took, at most, five days. The school typically billed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) $14,900 per student, more than triple what it charged civilians not covered by the GI Bill. The federal government paid the school more than $2 million before it came under investigation and closed, records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show. Another GI Bill trade school based in New Hampshire charged $18,500 in tuition to teach veterans how to make fake rocks out of concrete, federal documents show.
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