I went to the Sacramento County Board of Education building on Tuesday, March 24. I arrived at around 1:10 p.m when I parked my car. A middle-aged gentleman wearing a red flannel shirt told me that I needed to walk just two minutes away to their Business building. The man was very helpful, polite, and courteous – and the walk was under 2 minutes just as he said, so it wasn’t much of an inconvenience.

Inside the business office I was greeted by an older Asian woman. She didn’t speak very good English, so communication with her was difficult. There were no obvious public records request policies or guidelines posted in the office. The woman told me that she didn’t know what a Form 700 was and that I had to have business with the school to see any sort of financial records. She told me to go to the city or other nearby buildings, but wasn’t specific. She even suggested that I go to the IRS for the board members’ filed statements of financial interest. My visit in that office was probably 3-4 minutes before I finally left at approximately 1:25 p.m.

CalAware Reaction (Terry Francke, General Counsel):

The person to whom the auditor was referred did not provide the Form 700s, but seemed to believe they were filed with other agencies, or perhaps the IRS. In any event she said a requester had to have business with the office in order to see financial records. The legally prompt determination letter said that the requests for the employment contract, cash compensation and credit card or expense reimbursement statements of the superintendent and those reporting directly to him were “too vague”; that employee discipline records of the kind requested were confidential; and that worksheets for evaluating low-performing school districts’ own reports as to the adequacy of textbooks, other school supplies and facilities maintenance-an evaluation which the superintendent is required to make annually – “do not currently exist”.

Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected].