Education dept. again turning down records request
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — After saying last August that a public records request would be fulfilled, Louisiana's education department is again refusing to provide The Associated Press with records on how schools were chosen to participate in Gov. Bobby Jindal's new statewide voucher program.
The Associated Press requested the records on June 12. The department initially rejected the request on Aug. 3. However, a spokesman for Education Superintendent John White later told an AP capital bureau reporter that the records request would be fulfilled in September — after the final voucher enrollment numbers were tallied.
But, on Monday, White said in a letter that the request for records, emails or other communications was "overly broad." He also said records pertaining to the development of policies or deliberation among managers and staff are not public records.
"It was never our intention to provide documents that went against the advice of counsel and were not deemed public record," Erin Bendily, a deputy secretary in the department, said in an interview Monday.
The AP's June 12 request cited the state constitution and state law regarding public records. The request was for "any and all records, emails or other communications pertaining to the development of criteria used in selecting schools