January 27, 2011

Mr. W. Montgomery Meitler

Assistant Counsel

Office of Legal Services

Texas Education Agency

1701 North Congress Avenue

Austin, Texas 78701-1494

OR2011-01439

Dear Mr. Meitler:

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# 407382 (TEA PIR# 14306).

The Texas Education Agency (the "agency") received a request for any letters or e-mails received by the agency within the past six months regarding Shekinah Learning Institute, Inc. d/b/a Radiance Academy of Learning or Shekinah Radiance Academy. You state you have redacted an e-mail address under section 552.137 of the Government Code pursuant to Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). ⁽¹⁾ You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.116 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.116 of the Government Code provides as follows:

(a) An audit working paper of an audit of the state auditor or the auditor of a state agency, an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, a county, a municipality, a school district, or a joint board operating under Section 22.074, Transportation Code, including any audit relating to the criminal history background check of a public school employee, is excepted from [required public disclosure]. If information in an audit working paper is also maintained in another record, that other record is not excepted from [public disclosure] by this section.

(b) In this section:

(1) "Audit" means an audit authorized or required by a statute of this state or the United States, the charter or an ordinance of a municipality, an order of the commissioners court of a county, a resolution or other action of a board of trustees of a school district, including an audit by the district relating to the criminal history background check of a public school employee, or a resolution or other action of a joint board described by Subsection (a) and includes an investigation.

(2) "Audit working paper" includes all information, documentary or otherwise, prepared or maintained in conducting an audit or preparing an audit report, including:

(A) intra-agency and interagency communications; and

(B) drafts of the audit report or portions of those drafts.

Gov't Code § 552.116. You state the submitted information consists of audit working papers prepared or maintained by "[the agency's] Division of Financial Audits in conjunction with an audit of the Shekinah Learning Institute, Inc." You state this type of audit is authorized under section 39.057(a)(4) of the Education Code. See Educ. Code § 39.057 (listing circumstances in which the commissioner shall authorize investigations). Based on your representations and our review of the information at issue, we agree section 552.116 is applicable in this instance. We, therefore, conclude the agency may withhold the submitted information pursuant to section 552.116 of the Government Code.

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, toll free at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Andrea L. Caldwell

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ALC/eeg

Ref: ID# 407382

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note Open Records Decision No. 684 is a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including e-mail addresses of members of the public under section 552.137 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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