Judge Orders School to Lower Public Records Request Fee

KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho judge says Blaine County School District must find a way to lower the fee for fulfilling a public records request submitted by a citizen coalition earlier this year.

The Idaho Mountain Express reports in a story published Friday that 5th District Judge Robert J. Elgee ordered the district to recalculate the costs of processing the request by finding the lowest-paid person to do the work.

In June, the Coalition for BCSD Accountability filed a lawsuit after the district estimated it would cost more than $3,200 to provide electronic copies of nearly 700 email correspondence between the county's prosecutor and school district administrators between Jan. 27 and Nov. 24, 2015.

Eglee said that the district could use the school secretary to fulfill the request rather than higher paid officials.