May 18, 2011

Mr. W. Montgomery Meitler

Assistant Counsel, Office of Legal Services

Texas Education Agency

1701 North Congress Avenue

Austin, Texas 78701-1494

OR2011-06958

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# 418070 (TEA PIR# 14895).

The Texas Education Agency ("TEA") received a request for all information related to a specified investigation of a named school district. You state the final audit report will be released to the requestor. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.116 of the Government Code. We have considered the claimed exception and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.116 of the Government Code provides:

(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 inform this office the submitted documents consist of "audit working papers prepared or maintained by TEA's Division of Financial Audits in conjunction with an audit of [the named school district]." You inform us the audit was authorized by section 39.057(a)(4) the Education Code, which permits special accreditation investigations to be conducted in response to established compliance reviews of a school district's financial accounting practices and state and federal program requirements. See Educ. Code § 39.057 (listing circumstances in which the commissioner shall authorize investigations). Based on your representations and our review, we agree the information at issue consists of audit working papers for purposes of section 552.116 of the Government Code. Accordingly, TEA may withhold the entirety of the submitted information under 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,

Misty Haberer Barham

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

MHB/eeg

Ref: ID # 418070

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

NICK GEORGIOU

LAREDO MORNING TIMES

111 ESPERANZA DR

LAREDO TX 78041

(w/o enclosures)

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
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