Tribune Article
On August 2, 2013 the Tribune ran an article titled:
Three More Utah Schools Find Cash for Tech Makeover
The article states that an elementary school in the Salt Lake City School District was awarded this grant.
This came as a surprise to me because I do not recall the School Board approving this nor was it brought up at our last school board meeting.
I submitted a GRAMA Request in an effort to obtain the details of this transaction:
TEXT OF GRAMA REQUEST:
19 August 2013
DELIVERED VIA USPS
Ms. Janet Roberts, Business Administrator
Salt Lake City School District
440 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-1891
Re: GRAMA REQUEST: Smart Schools Program
Dear Ms. Roberts,
Pursuant to Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA), Utah Code §63g-2-204:
I am requesting a copy of all records (a book, letter, document, paper, map, plan, photograph, film, card, tape, recording, electronic data, or other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics) in reference to the Salt Lake City School District’s involvement with the Smart Schools Program i.e. grant application process, District’s financial obligation, what part of the budget covers the District’s matching funds for this grant, any and all correspondence etc….
On August 2, 2013, the Salt Lake Tribune ran a story titled: Three More Utah Schools Find Cash For Tech Makeover.
The article states that Newman Elementary School was one of three schools awarded the grant that required matching funds.
As you are aware during the 2013 Budget discussions you reported to the School Board that our current programs were in jeopardy and that we needed to raise 3.5 Million dollars in taxes in order to maintain our current level of service.
I find it curious that on the one hand you were crying poverty during the budget process and yet the District can now afford to finance a matching grant that the Tribune reports will cost the district $740.00 per student. Other schools had to “forfeit their bids for a tech makeover because they can’t afford their share of the bill”. I’m interested to learn how the Salt Lake City School District can afford this grant within the context of the supposed financial losses we suffered at the hands of the legislature’s failure to ‘fund growth’ and ‘WPU shortfall’.
I believe the documents should be released because the District has not been forthright with financial information during this past budget cycle, which I believe is contrary to the spirit of Utah’s Open and Public Meetings Act:
“In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the state, its agencies and political subdivisions, exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly” (see Utah code §52-4-101).
Utah Code §63g-2-203(4) encourages agencies to fulfill a records request without charge.
Based on Utah Code §63g -2-203 (4a), I am requesting a waiver of copy costs because releasing the records primarily benefits the public rather than a person.
Furthermore, based on Utah Code §63g -2-203 (4c) my “legal rights are directly implicated by the information in the record” as I am a newly elected member of the Board of Education (see Utah Code §53A-3-402).
I am of the opinion that the public has a right to examine all the records pertaining to this grant.
I recognize that you will respond to my request within 5 business days, as permitted by Utah Code §63g -2-204 (3)(b).
Respectfully,
J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2
cc: The Honorable John Dougall, Auditor of the State of Utah
Anne Knox, Reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune