February 21, 2012

Ms. LeAnne Lundy

Rogers, Morris & Grover, L.L.P.

5718 Westheimer Road Suite 1200

Houston, Texas 77057

OR2012-02650

Dear Ms. Lundy:

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# 449759.

The Klein Independent School District (the "district"), which you represent, received an eight-part request for information regarding (1) three specified positions at Klein Oak High School; (2) the current Klein Oak High School principal; and (3) requirements for financial credit rating standing of a district employee. You state the district has no information responsive to parts of the request. ⁽¹⁾ You also state information responsive to other parts of the request will be released. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.102 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the information you submitted. ⁽²⁾

Section 552.102(b) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "a transcript from an institution of higher education maintained in the personnel file of a professional public school employee[.]" Gov't Code § 552.102(b). This exception further provides, however, that "the degree obtained or the curriculum on a transcript in the personnel file of the employee" are not excepted from disclosure. Id. We agree the district must withhold the submitted educational transcripts under section 552.102(b) of the Government Code, except for the information that reveals the employee's name, the degree obtained, and the courses taken. See Open Records Decision No. 526 (1989) (addressing statutory predecessor).

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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/em

Ref: ID# 449759

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 when it received a request or create responsive information. 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), 555 at 1 (1990), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983).

2. In the event the submitted information is a representative sample of the requested information, this ruling assumes the submitted information is truly representative of the requested information as a whole. This ruling neither reaches nor authorizes the district to withhold any information that is substantially different from the submitted information. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(e)(1)(D), .302; Open Records Decision Nos. 499 at 6 (1988), 497 at 4 (1988).

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