Skip To Main Content

KDB, Public's Right to Know/Freedom of Information

KDB, Public's Right to Know/Freedom of Information

View Print Version

The public schools belong to the people of the community. Citizens have a right to know what is happening in their school system, and the Board of Education and district staff have a corresponding responsibility to keep them informed about district programs, services, finances and policies.

To fulfill this responsibility, the Board will proceed as follows:

  • Board meetings and records shall be matters of public information, subject to such restrictions as are set by federal law or regulations, by state statute or by pertinent court rulings.
  • All persons shall be welcome to attend the Board's regular and special meetings. Oral and written communications may be received and considered, as described in Policy BEDH.
  • The official minutes, written policies and financial records of the Board are public documents and shall be open for inspection to any member of the public during regular business hours, upon request at the office of the superintendent at the school administration building. However, no records are to be released for public inspection or to unauthorized persons if such disclosure would be contrary to the public interest, or if the records are otherwise exempt under applicable law. The district’s financial information shall be posted online in accordance with the Public School Financial Transparency Act.
  • The district may charge a fee for staff time spent researching and retrieving the requested records; conducting searches for relevant records; reviewing records to determine whether they are responsive to the request; identifying and separating those records that are not public and/or that are privileged or confidential; removing privileged or protected information from the records; photocopying, scanning or printing records; and other activities required to locate the records and to make them accessible to the requester. Such fee shall be $30 per hour which may be increased from time to time as permitted by applicable state law.
    • The district will waive the first $150 of staff research and retrieval expenses related to public record requests. The district will provide an estimate of the expected staff cost that would be incurred in excess of the $150 amount waived by the district to research, retrieve, review and produce records. Upon receipt of payment of the estimated cost the district will incur the staff expense to research, retrieve and furnish copies of the requested record.
    • The district will not charge a transmission fee when sending electronic documents, except when printing is required. Upon request, the district will provide an estimate of the expected staff time to convert records to electronic form at the $30 rate set forth above. The district will charge a fee of the actual cost of the service to transmit records by U.S. mail, other delivery service or facsimile.
    • Copies of any public records requested shall be furnished for $0.25 cents per page, to be paid in advance.
    • The district may, at its discretion, manipulate existing records, create a new record, or create a non-disclosure log in order to respond to a request. If the district manipulates data to generate a record in a form not used by the district, the actual costs of manipulating such data and generating such records will be assessed. This may include the hourly fee that applies to research and retrieval as well as any additional actual costs, such as a fee equal to the incremental costs of maintaining a computer database or running a computer program used to analyze or compile data into a single report or the actual cost of creating a non-disclosure log. The public information officer of designee will advise the applicant of the potential costs to be incurred in manipulating the data so as to provide the record. Upon receipt of payment of the estimated cost, the district will generate research, retrieve and furnish the record.

Adopted prior to 1985
Revised to conform with practice: date of manual adoption
Revised March 6, 1991
Revised June 4, 2008(CASB-July)
Revised August 21, 2013
Revised October 15, 2014

Legal References

  • C.R.S. 22-9-109 (exemption from public inspection)
  • C.R.S. 22-32-109(1)(c) (documents available for public inspection)
  • C.R.S. 22-44-301 et seq. (Public School Financial Transparency Act)
  • C.R.S. 24-72-201 et seq. (access to public records)
  • C.R.S. 24-72-205(6)(a) (fee for research and retrieval of public records)

Cross References

  • BE, School Board Meetings
  • BEDA, Notification of Board Meetings
  • BEDG, Minutes
  • BEDH, Public Participation at Board Meetings
  • CBIA*, Public Inspection of Superintendent's Evaluation
  • EGAEA, Electronic Communication
  • GBJ, Personnel Records
  • JRA/JRC, Student Records

4818-7899-0621, v. 1-1390-8765, v. 1