Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether the Owsley County Board of Education violated the Open Records Act in responding to Robert J. Shuman's December 18, 1998, request for information. For the reasons that follow, we find that the Board did not violate the Open Records Act, and that its actions were consistent with the applicable provisions of the Act.
In his December 18 request, Mr. Shuman posed a series of questions relating to the school system generally, and the future Farmers of America program specifically, such as: why did the school system sell its wood working machines, and how long has the school system had as part of the school curriculum the Future Farmers organization. The Board of Education responded through its attorney, Kendall Robinson, on December 21, 1998, advising Mr. Shuman that no action would be taken on his request since it did not comply with the requirement that the requester identify particular records to be inspected. This was a timely and proper response.
The Attorney General has long recognized that a public agency is not statutorily obligated to honor a request for information as opposed to records. For example, in 93-ORD-51, this office held that the Open Records Act:
was not intended to provide a requester with particular information, or to require public agencies to compile information to conform to the parameters of a given request. See, e.g., OAG 76-275; OAG 79-547; OAG 81-335; OAG 86-51; OAG 87-84; OAG 89-77; OAG 89-81; OAG 90-19. Rather, the law provides for inspection of reasonably identified records.
93-ORD-51, p. 3. Mirroring this view, in OAG 87-84 we observed:
Public agencies are not required by the Open Records Act to gather and supply information independent of that which is set forth in public records. The public has a right to inspect public documents and to obtain whatever information is contained in them but the primary impact of the Open Records Act is to make records available for inspection and copying and not to require the gathering and supplying of information.
OAG 87-84, p. 3. These decisions were premised on the language of the statutes themselves, including KRS 61.871 (providing that "free and open examination of public records is in the public interest"), KRS 61.872(1) (providing that "all public records shall be open for inspection by any person"), and KRS 61.872(2) (providing that "any person shall have the right to inspect public records " emphasis added).
Accordingly, we find no error in the Owsley County Board of Education's refusal to honor Mr. Shuman's request for information.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.