The Texas Public Information Act
Texas Government Code, Chapter 552 gives you the right to inspect or copy records held by school districts and other governmental bodies. Here is what matters when you file a request.
- § 552.001 — Policy: government information belongs to the people
- Texas law presumes that government information is open. Officials hold records on behalf of the public, and the Act is to be read in favor of disclosure. Read the statute
- § 552.021 / § 552.002 — What counts as public information
- Information written, produced, collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a school district in connection with district business is public information, unless the law makes it confidential or an exception applies. The Act covers existing records; it does not require a district to answer questions, do legal research, or create new documents. Read the statute
- § 552.222 — No questions about why you want the records
- A district may not ask why a person wants public information and may not demand more than basic contact detail needed to respond. It may ask you to clarify or narrow a request that is unclear or very broad. When it does so in good faith, the response clock is measured from the date the request is clarified or narrowed. Read the statute
- § 552.0031 — What is a business day?
- For this Act, a business day is not a Saturday, Sunday, national holiday, or state holiday listed in Government Code § 662.003. A school district's board of trustees may also designate up to 10 additional days each calendar year when offices are closed or minimally staffed. The list of designated days must be made public. This site counts days using those rules and verified closed days submitted for the selected district. Read the statute
- § 552.221 — Promptly, and within 10 business days
- The district must produce public information promptly. If it cannot do so within 10 business days of receiving the request, it must certify that in writing to the requestor and give a date and hour within a reasonable time when the information will be available. Read the statute
- § 552.234 — Where to send a request being verified
- A request must be in writing and sent to the district's officer for public information or that officer's agent. A district may designate a single email address and a single mailing address for requests and respond only to those. This site relays each request to verified public-information addresses for the selected district. Read the statute
- § 552.2615 — Cost estimates being verified
- If charges for a request are expected to exceed $40, the district must give an itemized written estimate and offer options to lower the cost. The district does not have to proceed until the requestor responds, and the request is treated as withdrawn if the requestor does not respond within 10 business days. Read the statute
- § 552.301 — Asking the Attorney General for a ruling
- A district that wants to withhold information it believes is excepted must ask the Attorney General for a decision and tell the requestor in writing within 10 business days of receiving the request. Within 15 business days it must send the Attorney General its reasons and a copy of the request, and it must send the requestor a copy of its comments. Read the statute
- § 552.101 et seq. — Information the law protects
- Some information is confidential or excepted from disclosure, including most student education records (FERPA), certain personnel and security information, and attorney-client communications. Districts may redact or withhold protected information, usually after an Attorney General ruling. Read the statute
- §§ 552.321, 552.3215 — If a district does not comply being verified
- A requestor may sue for a writ of mandamus to compel the release of public information, and a requestor or the Attorney General may seek a declaratory judgment or injunction. Questions about the Act can be directed to the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline. Read the statute
If you think the district did not follow the law
The Attorney General's Open Government Hotline answers questions about the Act: (512) 478-6736 or toll-free (877) 673-6839.
How this site follows the Act
Requests are written and sent to the address each district has designated for public information requests (the Attorney General keeps a public database of these), identifying the request by its reference number rather than your account username. A district is never asked why anyone wants records. The day the district receives a request starts the 10-business-day clock, and this site counts business days using the statutory holiday list plus the nonbusiness days that district's board has designated. Each district page lists them.