 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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August 18, 2011 Mr. W. Montgomery Meitler Assistant Counsel Texas Education Agency 1701 North Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78701 OR2011-11972 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# 427242 (TEA PIR# 15538). The Texas Education Agency (the "agency") received a request for information related to an investigation of a specified charter school. (1) You state the agency has released some of the requested information, with information redacted pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), section 1232g of title 20 of the United States Code. (2) You state the agency will redact personal e-mail addresses under section 552.137 of the Government Code pursuant to the previous determination in Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). (3) 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, a hospital 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 the requirements of Section 552.021. If information in an audit working paper is also maintained in another record, that other record is not excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 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, the bylaws adopted by or other action of the governing board of a hospital district, 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. Act of May 29, 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., H.B. 2947, §§ 1, 2 (to be codified as amendments to Gov't Code § 552.116(a) and (b)(1)). You state the submitted information consists of audit working papers that were prepared or are maintained by the agency's Division of Financial Audits. You inform us that these audits were conducted under the authority granted to the agency by 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 that 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, Vanessa Burgess Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division VB/dls Ref: ID# 427242 Enc. Submitted documents c: Requestor (w/o enclosures) Footnotes1. You note that the agency received a clarification of the information requested. See Gov't Code § 552.222 (providing that if request for information is unclear, governmental body may ask requestor to clarify request); see also City of Dallas v. Abbott, 304 S.W.3d 380, 387 (Tex. 2010) (holding that when a governmental entity, acting in good faith, requests clarification or narrowing of an unclear or over-broad request for public information, the ten-day period to request an attorney general ruling is measured from the date the request is clarified or narrowed). 2. The United States Department of Education Family Policy Compliance Office (the "DOE") has informed this office FERPA does not permit state and local educational authorities to disclose to this office, without parental consent, unredacted, personally identifiable information contained in education records for the purpose of our review in the open records ruling process under the Act. The DOE has determined FERPA determinations must be made by the educational authority in possession of the education records. We have posted a copy of the letter from the DOE to this office on the Attorney General's website: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/20060725usdoe.pdf. 3. See Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009) (previous determination authorizing any governmental body to withhold ten categories of information, including an e-mail address of a member of the public under section 552.137 of Government Code, without necessity of requesting attorney general opinion).
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |