Public Records Archives - Page 57 of 74 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

30 Apr, 2015

Nashville school board to consider more transparency for charter schools

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:50:48-05:00April 30, 2015|Categories: schools|Tags: Annenberg Institute for School Reform, charter schools, Metro Nashville school board, Nashville|0 Comments

Nashville's school board is scheduled to discuss tonight potential adoption of public accountability standards for charter schools that would require, among other things, more transparency about how they operate and how public money is spent. Charter schools in Tennessee are already required to abide by the state's Open Meetings Act (T.C.A. 49-13-138) and Public Records Act (T.C.A. 49-13-140), as well as abide by whatever governance requirements laid out by the school district that granted the charters. But instances of fraud and malfeasance by charter school operators across the country have prompted school advocates and lawmakers in some states to propose additional accountability measures that provide more transparency for charter schools. Nashville's [...]

28 Apr, 2015

Lawmakers tweak public records law, but avoid new fees for now

By Deborah Fisher|2015-09-25T17:03:32-05:00April 28, 2015|Categories: fees, Legislature|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, City of Franklin, Erlanger Health Systems, executive session, fees for public records, legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, performance evaluations, public hospital boards, State Rep. Mike Carter, State Rep. Steve McDaniel, State Sen. Jim Tracy, TCOG news, Tennessee School, TSSAA, utilities|1 Comment

Sponsors delayed action on legislation that could have made accessing public records more expensive for citizens and news media, but lawmakers in the 109th General Assembly moved ahead on other changes to the state's public records law. A new exemption was added to make performance evaluations of more state employees confidential. Another was added to make sure student academic and health information remained private. And yet another reinforced already existing exemptions to protect credit card numbers and email addresses of citizens held by government. The most far-reaching public records bill was one that never made it to committee for discussion — a proposal to impose new fees on citizens who asked to inspect public [...]

24 Apr, 2015

Knoxville Mercury: Tennessee’s Open-Government Laws Are Outdated and in Danger of Being Undermined

By Deborah Fisher|2015-04-24T10:19:50-05:00April 24, 2015|Categories: fees, Legislature|Tags: fees for public records, Knoxville Mercury, legislature|0 Comments

Good piece of reporting by S. Heather Duncan of the Knoxville Mercury on recent goings-on with the Tennessee Public Records Act. Duncan compiles some examples... In the first four months of this year, Knoxville has seen open meetings violations by its 911 board, including the police chief and sheriff; the state Legislature has acknowledged that most of its committees have been regularly holding secret “pre-meetings”; and legislators floated about 25 bills that either attempted or succeeded in reducing public access to records and meetings. Over the last year, several local governments across the state lost high-profile court cases because they “willfully” withheld documents from the public, and still others got [...]

2 Apr, 2015

Judge denies open records lawsuit against Haslam

By Deborah Fisher|2015-04-02T07:00:09-05:00April 2, 2015|Categories: economic development, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Bill Haslam, Brett Carter, Chancellor Carol McCoy, open records, Revenue Commissioner Richard Roberts, tax records|0 Comments

By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press A tax attorney who sued for the release of records from Gov. Bill Haslam's administration related to a $350,000 analysis of business tax collections in Tennessee said Tuesday that he likely will appeal a judge's denial of his open records lawsuit. Attorney Brett Carter had filed the lawsuit in chancery court alleging a "willful" violation of the Tennessee Open Records Act over the state finance and revenue departments' refusal to disclose details about how they decided to draft the Revenue Modernization Act that Haslam has proposed to lawmakers this year. But Chancellor Carol McCoy on Monday denied Carter's lawsuit after reviewing some of the requested materials [...]

23 Mar, 2015

NFOIC and SPJ combine war chests to fight for Freedom of Information

By Deborah Fisher|2015-03-23T13:23:48-05:00March 23, 2015|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: litigation, NFOIC, SPJ, TCOG news|0 Comments

Joint press release from SPJ-NFOIC. (TCOG is a member of NFOIC): INDIANAPOLIS/Jefferson City - The Society of Professional Journalists and the National Freedom of Information Coalition are joining forces - and legal war chests - to help citizens and journalists fight for public records. The two groups will band together to help litigants who sue for access to government information. The NFOIC can provide court fees and SPJ help for attorney fees. Both organizations also will use their combined national networks of journalists and citizens to apply public pressure to government agencies that flaunt the law. "This is such an exciting collaborative project, one that will lend significant weight to [...]