April 7, 2009

Mr. Sydney W. Falk

Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP

816 Congress Avenue, Suite 1700

Austin, Texas 78701

OR2009-04575

Dear Mr. Falk:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 339447.

The Austin Independent School District (the "district"), which you represent, received a request for the salary of the current superintendent, as well as the application filed by a named individual for the position of district superintendent. You state that the district has released the requested salary information. Although your brief does not reveal whether the district maintains the remaining requested information, you claim that any information that would identify a person as an applicant for the position of district superintendent is excepted from disclosure under section 552.126 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ We have considered your arguments.

Section 552.126 excepts from disclosure the "name of an applicant for the position of superintendent of a public school district . . . except that the board of trustees must give public notice of the name or names of the finalists being considered for the position at least 21 days" before a vote or final action is taken. Gov't Code § 552.126. You explain that as of the date of the request, the district had "not yet named any finalists in its search for a new superintendent." Thus, you assert, and we agree, that the name of an employment candidate for the position of superintendent is excepted from disclosure under section 552.126. Furthermore, this protection from disclosure extends not only to the name of the individual, but also to any information tending to identify the individual. See Open Records Decision No. 540 (1990) (interpreting section 552.123 - which, in language similar to section 552.126, protects identities of applicants for chief executive officer of institution of higher education - as applying to identities, rather than just names of applicants). This office has previously held that the type of information that identifies individuals in such cases includes, but is not limited to, resumes, professional qualifications, membership in professional organizations, dates of birth, current positions, publications, letters of recommendation, or any other information that can be uniquely associated with a particular applicant. Id. Thus, to the extent the district maintains the requested application and any associated information pertaining to the application as described above, the district may withhold such information pursuant to section 552.126.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

Sincerely,

Christopher D. Sterner

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CDSA/eeg

Ref: ID# 339447

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the Act does not require a governmental body to release information that did not exist at the time the request for information was received or create new information in response to a request. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983).

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