The Jessamine County Board of Education violated the Kentucky Open Records Act when it denied a request for public records on the basis of where the requester lived, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has ruled.
The requester, Nicole Smith, had correctly stated she qualified as a resident of the Kentucky, the Open Records Decision announced October 20 said.
Smith filed a request to the board for data about capital and operating expenditures for the 2024 fiscal year on behalf of Acme Research Institute of Kentucky on Aug. 7.
The Office of the Attorney General ruling said the board denied the request because it contained no information about the “Kentucky residency for Acme” or the commercial purposes, if any, of the request.
Smith described the purposes of her request and asserted that it complied with the law’s residency requirement. First, she said Acme was a foreign business entity registered with the Secretary of State. Also, she said she was an “individual that is employed and works at a location or locations within the Commonwealth.”
Smith explained she worked from a “home office” located in Kentucky.
In response, the Jessamine school board denied the request because Acme was a Kentucky corporation with its principal office in Texas. The Attorney General ruled it is immaterial whether, as the school board argued, Acme is a domestic corporation or a foreign corporation with or without a location in Kentucky.
Jessamine County Schools Superintendent Sara Crum told the Herald-Leader Thursday that the Jessamine County School District is committed to fully adhering to all state laws and regulations.
“To ensure that we handle open records requests in an appropriate and compliant manner, our legal counsel routinely reviews requests and advises the district/board on how to proceed,” she said
Due to a misunderstanding relating to whether the criteria for Kentucky residency was met within the request, the district was advised to deny the request, Crum said.
“When we were informed that the individual requesting this information on behalf of an out-of-state company did indeed meet the residency criteria, we immediately responded to correct this mistake and provided the requested information,” Crum said. “We regret the delay in providing the requested information and any inconvenience that it may have caused.”
