Two moms in the Eanes School District, just west of Austin, have given new meaning to getting involved in their children's education.
In 2003, Dianna Pharr and Susan Bushart took baking cookies for teacher appreciation luncheons and volunteering at the local elementary school to the next level when they started demanding school records through the Freedom of Information Act. They've disclosed board meeting minutes, district employee salaries and athletic program expenditures, among other things. After being denied permission to post their research on the district's Web site, the two created their own site, www.keepeanesinformed.com, which even details the district's check register.
Their quest for information, however, has been an ongoing battle that's far from closure. After Pharr and Bushart made a deluge of requests, including as many as 238 in a 24-hour period, the Lake Travis School District filed suit against the women in 2005. Incensed parents have even attempted to sue the school district for using public tax money to comply with the requests.
Texas House Bill 2564, signed into law last month, puts Pharr and Bushart at an even larger disadvantage in their battle for information. It lets government agencies track and more easily bill those who request information, with the exception of elected officials, FCC-licensed radio and TV stations, and newspapers "of general circulation." Under the law, the cost of a request increases dramatically if assembling it takes longer than 36 hours. Since the law exempts public officials and media outlets, which often have a budget for records requests anyway, it is essentially discrimination against everyday citizens to hold school districts, public officials and government agencies accountable. Not to mention that online news outlets and bloggers aren't included in the law's exemption. This law puts another financial barrier on information that should be readily accessible in paper or on the Internet.
The Texas Public Information Act, passed in 1973, requires governmental bodies to "treat all requesters equally," and HB 2564 is a direct violation of that requisite.
Federal agencies are just as easily getting away with violating the Freedom of Information Act, which mandates an initial response within 20 days of a request. Only 6 percent are in full compliance with a federal law aimed at expediting information requests via the Internet, according to the National Security Archive project at George Washington University. The findings of the group's survey of 87 agencies and departments, released last week, also show that the backlog of unprocessed requests steadily grew from 13 percent at the end of 1998 to well more than double that in 2005. The oldest pending request, made by the Church of Scientology, dates back 20 years, and 16 other requesters have been waiting at least 15 years. The State Department is the worst offender, as it still has to respond to 10 requests filed in 1991 or earlier.
In light of the Freedom of Information Act's 41st anniversary Wednesday, our society needs more Pharrs and Busharts to keep holding our governments accountable and push for laws that will promote that freedom. In addition to singing "rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air," on July 4, Americans hopefully recognized our FOIA's birthday and the growing battle for information we face.
Freedom shouldn't have any exemptions, so make up for HB 2564 by being your own media. Act on your curiosities and suspicions of our public officials and entities, and don't be afraid to send an open records request (or 238 of them). If more people shared Pharr and Bushart's spirit, then we may see less requests taking 20 years and less bills like HB 2564 becoming laws - and we'd be more likely to sing "home of the free" with confidence.
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