(The Center Square) – Two organizations are challenging the Tennessee School Board Association’s claims that it is no longer subject to Tennessee’s public records law.
The lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute and the Beacon Center in Davidson County Chancery Court on Tuesday said a judge ruled in 2020 that the association is subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act because it receives about 90% of its funding from public sources.
The association provides a variety of services to Tennessee’s school boards, including retreats, research, superintendent evaluations and superintendent searches, according to its website. In a case filed in the Davidson County Chancery Court in April, the Tennessee School Board says it is no longer subject to the state’s open records laws. The association sued Haywood County resident Peter Maher, who requested public records regarding the association’s policy.
A contract the association had with the State of Tennessee to provide training for local school boards expired in 2023 and was not renewed and the association said it did not have to provide the records.
“While the TSBA still receives approximately 90% of its funding from public entities, the TSBA respectfully submits that the nature of this funding was misinterpreted in the 2020 Order,” the association said in the April lawsuit. “The TSBA’s public funds do not come from state grants and donations, but rather from membership service fees paid by school boards.”
The Beacon Center asked for similar records, and the association said it would produce them for $390.30.
“An entity that owes no duty under the TPRA has no occasion to invoke the charges a records custodian may assess under it; an entity that invokes those charges is acting as the custodian of public records,” the Goldwater Institute and the Beacon Center said in its lawsuit. “The conflict between TSBA’s stated position that it is not subject to the TPRA and its effort to demand statutorily-authorized fees for producing records leave Beacon Center uncertain as to whether it has a statutory right to require TSBA to comply with the TPRA and the 2020 Order or an obligation to pay fees that may be charged by an entity subject to the TPRA’s requirements.”
“The Goldwater Institute and the Beacon Center are not willing to play the Tennessee School Boards Association’s disingenuous game,” said David Roland, the Goldwater Institute’s Director of Allied Litigation. “The fact of the matter is that the bulk of the TSBA’s funding comes from Tennessee taxpayers. In our self-governing society, it’s imperative that those taxpayers be allowed to know how the TSBA is using public funds or conducting public activities.”
The organizations are asking the court to uphold the 2020 ruling that said the Tennessee School Board Association is still subject to the state’s Public Records Act.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting a response from the Tennessee School Board Association.
