LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan may be known for its Great Lakes, but it’s also home to plenty of secrets. And if Michiganders want to uncover what their government and school systems are keeping under wraps, they have to file a FOIA request.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is supposed to be a shining beacon of governmental accountability, but lately, it’s looking more like a toll booth with a broken meter. School districts and government bodies across the state are slapping astronomical fees on FOIA requests, ensuring that the only thing citizens get is a lighter wallet and a lesson in futility.
Rochester’s $33 million hide-and-seek game.
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Take Rochester Community Schools, where transparency comes with a price tag that’d make a luxury car blush. At the end of last year, we reported on Elizabeth Clair, a Detroit mom, had dared to ask for public access to public records about the district’s diversity training and materials. She was quoted a fee of more than $33 million. The fee was so ridiculous that it made international news.
Clair isn’t the first one to get a big bill from that school district though. Before her, it was mom Jessica Opfer, who was informed that she’d need to pay over $25 million for her FOIA request for records about the removal of a language arts curriculum.
FOIA fees or financial firewall? St. Charles schools’ pricey paper trail.
Then there’s St. Charles, Michigan. Journalist Dave Bondy reports that this school district is charging over $60K for FOIA records regarding school fundraising expenses. That’s a bargain compared to Rochester Schools – but still something the average parent or taxpayer can’t afford.
The district is justifying the cost they quoted to two parents by claiming it’s the result of extensive work at $32 per hour. But let’s do the math: that’s nearly 1,900 hours of labor if no copy charges are incurred – more than an entire year of full-time work. Either they’re hiring a slow-motion scribe, or someone really doesn’t want these numbers seeing the light of day.
Meanwhile, the alleged missing football fundraising money they want to find out about – once safely in the school’s coffers – has mysteriously vanished, much like the school’s willingness to answer questions.
Schools across Michigan are slapping on sky-high fees for public records.
Last October, a Grand Valley State student filed a FOIA request seeking access to documents related to an ongoing investigation that he is involved in at the university. He was hit with an $84K bill. His mother stated the obvious about the exorbitant amount that was charged: she believes the school is overbilling in an effort to hide the records.
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In January of 2022, parents requested “critical race” records from Forest Hills Public Schools seeking documents that mentioned terms like “critical race theory,” “CRT, “anti-racist,” “equity” and other similar terms. Their bill? Over $409K.
Michigan schools turn FOIA requests into pricey hurdles for parents seeking answers.
Instead of making FOIA requests more accessible, Michigan schools seem to be perfecting the art of bureaucratic roadblocks. Parents only have a few options: cough up a small fortune or keep showing up to school board meetings and making officials sweat. They can also appeal the charges but that rarely results in any kind of massive discount.
With Michigan ranking among the worst in the nation for transparency laws, this battle isn’t just about football funds – it’s about whether parents have the right to know how their money is spent – and it looks like the schools don’t think so.
Not surprisingly, Michigan got an F overall from the Center for Public Integrity in their integrity investigation, ranking them in last place among the 50 states. That includes an F in public access to information.
This failing grade is largely due to Michigan’s lack of transparency in state government – a problem that has long frustrated residents and watchdog groups alike. One key issue tied to state government transparency is that Michiganders can’t use FOIA to access records from the governor or the legislature. Whether that changes remains to be seen. In late January, the state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to change that. The legislation is now in the House, where it has been referred to the Committee on Government Operations.
The process.
Schools, state and local governments can charge fees for labor (based on the lowest-paid qualified employee) and expenses (such as copies). However, when they actually do fulfill requests, they’re also known to play games – sending duplicate documents, overwhelming requesters with excessive files, and providing unsearchable PDFs to make information harder to sift through.
Michigan law allows agencies to require a “good-faith deposit” for FOIA fees over $50 – up to half the total cost. That means if Rochester demands $33 million, you’d need to cough up $16.5 million just for a look. And after all that, you might end up with 650 heavily redacted pages revealing nothing useful. Delaying requests is another common tactic, as seen with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which was sued for repeatedly refusing to release FOIA documents.
And what about those agencies who don’t just delay or hide records but (allegedly) erase them entirely? According to Law & Crime, the Republican National Committee (RNC) sued the City of Detroit Department of Elections, accusing officials in Michigan’s largest city of violating the Freedom of Information Act by deleting surveillance footage from a ballot drop box location.
The bottom line.
Michigan’s FOIA fees don’t seem to be about covering costs – they appear to be about building walls. School districts and government bodies are turning a public right into a privilege for the rich – or no privilege at all, leaving parents and taxpayers clutching unreasonable quotes instead of records.
