The state's Office of Open Records ruled that draft budgets should be released to the public

By NICHOLE DOBO
[York] Daily Record/Sunday News

When Pat Barget requested a copy of the South Eastern School District proposed budget in May, she was denied.

The budget was due to be approved by the school district by June 30, but the documents Barget wanted were draft records, not subject to the state's Right-to-Know law, the district wrote back.

"It would be a disservice to the community and to the District, to provide information that is a draft document," the district's refusal letter read.

The state Office of Open Records disagreed.

On June 22, the open records office ruled that the district's working budget was subject to the Right-to-Know Act and ordered the district to release the records. Barget vs. South Eastern School District AP 2009-0441

The state's open records law changed this year, and now all records of state and local agencies are considered public unless they fall under one of the exemptions to the law.

At the time of Barget's request, the school district, along others, was already several months into a yearly budget process set as a result of the state's Taxpayer Relief Act of 2006.

The law, which applies to districts that accept gaming revenue to reduce homeowner property tax bills, made other changes to the public school district budgeting process, including a standardized budget form and more public budget meetings.

However, the South Eastern School District argues a portion this law shields them from providing budget documents from the public until 20 days before it's to be approved, said Paula Denton, the district's business manager.

According to Denton: The district chose not to raise taxes more than the state-regulated ceiling, which means the district did not need a preliminary budget on the standardized form until June 10.

"It wouldn't be good to give this out to the public because it's not accurate," Denton said.

And since there wasn't a formal preliminary budget created when Barget asked to see it, there wasn't one ready for public inspection, Denton contends. There was a budget in the works, but it was not provided as a public record because it was a "draft," she said.

Draft papers are one of the exemptions to the Right-to-Know law, but, the office of open records ruled in the case of budgets, the open records office "does not view (the exception) as applicable to draft budgets, which are not prepared for personal use and are not of the same character as other examples cited in the exemption."

The district's final budget has already been approved, so the actual records in question could be a moot point, but the ruling, so long as it's not overturned by a judge, sets a precedent for others seeking budget documents.

The district has 30 days to file an appeal in county court, but has not done so yet. The district is still determining if it will appeal, Denton said.

South Eastern isn't the only York County district to get a ruling recently on an open records appeal.

The Central York School District was told July 2 to release specific employee pay and leave information to Simon Campbell, president of Stop Teacher Strikes, an advocacy group from the Philadelphia area.

Campbell argued he wanted different documents than those provided by the district in response to his request, so he appealed to the state. The state's largest teachers union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, argued during the appeal process that some of the records, including W-2 tax forms, should not be considered a public record.

So far this year, Central York has received seven open records requests -- including three from Campbell and two from newspaper reporters. It's provided the required documents five times.

"We try to be as open as possible," said Julie Randall Romig, a district spokeswoman.

BY THE NUMBERS

The state law that governs public records changed this year. Part of that change included the creation of the Office of Open Records, a state agency that hears appeals of records denials made at that state and local level.

Here's a breakdown by the numbers of activity in the office:

• 584: Appeals filed with the Office of Open Records as of July 7
• 48: Appeal of decisions made by the Office of Open Records

Source: Barry Fox, deputy director of the Office of Open Records