A public school district that has been at the center of controversy is refusing the Arizona Legislature’s request for access to basic financial records.
After a July 21 Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) hearing on district finances, Co-Chairman Matt Gress requested two years of financial transaction records, including all purchase orders. That request was submitted on August 26.
Instead of complying, the district has refused to provide electronic records and is demanding more than $26,000 in fees—charges it admits are intended to discourage requests. State law allows fees only for the actual cost of copying or mailing records, not for producing electronic files—and certainly not to deter oversight. Representative Gress sent a follow-up letter to clarify his records request on September 17, but his requests have been met with hostility.
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“In my experience, it is unprecedented for an Arizona public entity to demand that the State pay for public records or to assert that it can withhold electronic records. Exporting purchase orders from financial software is simple, and other districts have complied quickly,” stated Gress.
“This refusal denies lawmakers the basic financial information needed to evaluate reforms and ensure tax dollars are spent responsibly,” explained Gress. “Arizonans have a right to know how their money is used, and blocking these records sets a dangerous and unacceptable precedent.”
“I am also concerned by the district’s attempt to involve the Attorney General’s Office. Attorney General Mayes has previously provided records to the Legislature when her own office was under review. It would be deeply troubling for her office to advise a district to withhold documents from legislative oversight, especially when the district has already hired private counsel. Any such advice would undermine Arizona’s transparency laws,” concluded Gress.
Hummmmmm, me thinks there is something foul afoot and someone made money off this real estate deal. Continual denial of records should be jail time for the Superintendent. But unfortunately it will never happen. Don’t you just love the attitude that the transplants have brought to the state…..the McCain wing on the democrat party should be so proud.
Makes you wonder what they’re trying to hide
jail