School districts in six states have been targeted with sweeping public records requests

School districts and local governments in six states have been targeted with sweeping public records requests from groups touting private property rights and limited government initiatives. The groups hope to learn whether taxpayer-funded resources such as computers are being used improperly to fight their political campaigns. The requests are part of a nationwide open records project driven by the national nonprofit, Citizens In Charge, for the purpose of uncovering abuse and misuse of public resources. According to the Citizens In Charge website, the group is nonpartisan and dedicated to protecting states' initiative and referendum processes. School local government officials are characterizing the records requests as disruptive fishing expeditions aimed at burdening scarce resources. They contend employees will be swamped, trying to fulfill the records request by wading through hundreds of thousands of e-mails. "We've never been asked for something this broad," says John Garner, superintendent of the Kimberly School District in Idaho. The group has made requests in Montana, Nebraska, Arizona, Michigan, Idaho, and Nevada.

In Montana, a number of school districts statewide received at least one of three standard Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for all electronic information distributed between Feb. 23, 2006, and the present. The requests ask for records pertaining to CI-97, the ballot initiative to limit state spending. Information regarding access to public buildings, access to privately owned shopping or retail stores, or anything to do with paid or volunteer signature gatherers also is requested. Another request asks for computer, e-mail, and Internet-use policies. In Idaho, the request demands that schools, cities, and counties furnish all employee e-mails since 2005 that mention Proposition 1, which would boost public school education funding by $210 million a year, and Proposition 2, to require governments to pay property owners when new development regulations lower the value of their land.

[Editor’s Note: Voters in Maine, Nebraska, and Oregon rejected Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) initiatives in the general elections in their states this week. An Education Week article on the TABOR defeats is linked below. Americans for Limited Government and Citizens in Charge have been leading the charge in several states to place TABOR initiatives on state ballots this November. Links to the organizations’ websites also are provided. For background on the fate of TABOR in Colorado, see the NSBA School Law link. Resources from state school boards associations on TABOR proposals are available at the last link.]