What's good for the goose...

I’ve written up a short primer for the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors and School Board.

The two have been at odds over a BOS member’s request for salary data and other records from the school board. The school board has said it will take 14 hours of staff time and cost around $700 to get the salary data because of the financial software the board uses. Neighboring localities charge $0 for the same salary information and some use off-the-shelf management tools like Excel.

Anyway, here’s the primer.

To the BOS member requesting records:

As an elected member of a public office, you have no fewer, but also no more rights to records under FOIA than does any member of the public or media. The same rules about response times, the right types of responses, fees and exemptions apply, no matter who the requester is and no matter what records the requester seeks. It also doesn’t matter why someone wants the record -- whether for a “good” reason like learning about school system salaries or for a “bad” reason like just keeping an eye on who board members are communicating with. Like any citizen, you have the right to challenge the amount you've been charged for a request.

To the school board chair:

An elected official has no more, but also no fewer right to records under FOIA than does any member of the public or media. The same rules about response times, and the right types of responses, fees and exemptions apply, no matter who the requester is an no matter what records the requester seeks. It also doesn’t matter why someone wants the record -- whether for a “good” reason like learning about school system salaries or for a “bad” reason like just keeping an eye on who board members are communicating with. Nor, in the case of a request from a board member, does it matter whether the rest of the board supports the request or not.

While these two officials duke it out, I hope they and their fellow board members will take the time to understand that the argument they’re having is the same one that citizens and media representatives have all over the state on any given day when their requests for records are met with resistance.

I hope the passion the board members have over their rights and duties under FOIA will extend to citizens’ rights to records in the future.