Provo school board member Sandy Packard wants to know how the district's schools are spending public money.

The answer may wind up costing her money.

Packard wants to review the records of school bank accounts to see how student fees, donations and other funds have been handled. District Business Administrator Kerry Smith said it costs 5 cents a page to copy the documents. At 3,600 pages, that adds up to $180. And that's assuming Packard is content with waiting. Expedited processing (five business days) would be an extra $80 to cover an employee's overtime pay.

Carol Lear, the Utah State Office of Education's lawyer, said GRAMA is not exactly clear on whether Packard should have to file a records request. She said such requests usually come from the board, but this one comes from an individual member making it unclear how to proceed.

Translation: "We don't really want anyone to see this information." Otherwise, why the silly gamefi Common sense suggests that if a member of a school board asks for documents related to school management, the request is legitimate. After all, Packard is the equivalent of a member of the district's board of directors and should have access to all its records.

While GRAMA allows government entities to charge fees for producing copies, fees can be waived when the requester demonstrates that he or she is making the request in the public interest. Clearly, that's the case here. It's within the scope of Packard's duties.

While some have mistakenly called fee waivers a "media exemption" (since journalists are presumed by the law to be acting in the public interest), it can apply to anyone who can show that he plans to use the records for the greater good.

For example, if a neighborhood activist requested records to make a presentation to his neighbors on why a subdivision should not be built, that would be considered acting in the public interest under GRAMA.

Likewise, Packard, as an elected official, can be presumed to be acting in the public interest when she wants to know how the district spends money at the individual school level.

Unfortunately, the law on the fee waiver states that agencies "may" waive the fee, rather than the more direct "shall." That provides wiggle room for officials who have an interest in obfuscating the facts.

Public records are not the property of a government body. Such bodies are merely custodians. The records themselves belong to the people. As long as someone seeks a record to advance the public good, whether journalist, elected official or concerned resident, the record keeper should err on the side of free access. While there may be a statutory right to charge money, the fees are wrong in this case.

Provo City School District should copy the information without delay and let Packard do her job -- without a fee. Either that or let her copy the documents herself to save staff time.

This little quirk in the law ought to be straightened out by the Legislature.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A5.

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