Records Requests Concern Hinsdale Board

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale High School District officials are expressing concern about the money and time it takes to respond to public records requests. In some cases, the officials said, the district has spent $10,000 in responding to requests for information.

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, most government documents are considered public records. But exceptions exist, letting government bodies redact portions of records, which takes time.

"I don't think that when people submit a FOIA request, they really understand the financial implications," Nancy Pollak, the school board's president, said at last week's board meeting. "As I was doing research on FOIA, it seems that if it becomes a certain expense, then you would share some of that expense. I'n not suggesting we do that, but I'm suggesting that we need to understand when we have some FOIA requests that are $10,000, this is real money. We're not talking about photocopying paper."

Superintendent Tammy Prentiss said the district has spoken with its legal firm and asked it to identify the costs of public records reviews in its bills. And the district is asking department heads to track employees' time in responding to records requests. This information, she said, will be included in the school board's monthly reports on public records requests.

If the school board wants to share more of the costs of responding to requests, it has few means to do so under the law. Most requests these days are sent via email, and government entities cannot charge for electronic copies, unless they involve an extraordinary amount of data and even then it cannot charge more than $100. However, if the information is released on a CD, then the entity can charge for the actual cost of that medium. Even with old-fashioned paper copies, the first 50 pages must be free.

Under the law, government bodies cannot charge for any of the personnel costs for producing records. However, they do have one escape valve: The Freedom of Information Act gives them the power to assert that a request is "unduly burdensome" and must be narrowed.

At last week's board meeting, member Kathleen Hirsman advised caution if the district were to reject a public records request, noting that requesters can appeal to the attorney general's public access counselor.

"I don't think it's a good expenditure of public money to fight the public access counselor on FOIA issues," Hirsman said. "If we are on strong ground, contest it. But it could be a potential waste of money that far exceeds what it costs to respond to a public records request. I'm mindful how we spend our money."

In the last month, the district responded to eight public records requests, some appearing to involve the controversy over the recent changes to the district's science curriculum.