Districts see rise in FOIA requests

FOIA Buddy uses Right-to-Know forms to ‘data mine’ school policies, finances

Several school district officials said they are being inundated with Right-to-Know requests filed by FOIA Buddy, a business aiming to simplify public use of the Freedom of Information Act.

Ever since FOIA Buddy launched in February, the Hollidaysburg Area School District has received 31 Right-to-Know requests from the organization, Altoona Area received 27 requests and Tyrone Area received 24.

Hollidaysburg Area Superintendent Curtis Whitesel said most of the requests his district received were seeking information about the school board's policies, which are publicly available on the district's website.

"Our policies are listed on our district website, as I assume most are, which leads me to believe he could answer his questions himself," Whitesel said of the Right-to-Know requests.

FOIA Buddy is a business in which people purchase credits online to submit Freedom of Information Act requests. The organization's website states that each credit can be used for one request and costs between $0.20 and $0.50 depending on how many credits are purchased. Bulk requests make it even cheaper, according to the website, which claims its pricing structure "ensures it's affordable and easy to submit multiple FOIA requests."

Since it takes time to fulfill these requests, Whitesel said Hollidaysburg Area generally asks for a 30-day extension to fulfill them, which is also "costing the taxpayers money as we constantly have to work with our solicitor to make sure we are answering correctly," he said.

Other requests filed by FOIA Buddy were about the district's budget -- revenue and expenditures -- and various contracts, Whitesel said, noting the requests also limit the district's productivity in day-to-day operations.

"It has become a nuisance," he said of the bundles of requests received.

Not part of scamming

During the Altoona Area School Board's policy committee meeting on July 24, community relations director Paula Foreman said school districts are required by law to respond to all Right-to-Know requests received. The onus is on the district to prove the requested record is not public, she said, noting there are only 30 exceptions districts can use to deny a request.

Foreman said FOIA Buddy is "data mining" public schools across Pennsylvania to upload the information on its website for profit.

"It's advantageous for for-profit companies to have access to all this information," Foreman said, adding the district has most of its contracts available electronically, meaning the district cannot charge a per-sheet fee like they could for hard copies or for time spent fulfilling the requests.

"We may get 10 or

15 (requests) at a time, and it takes up all your day," Foreman said.

Board president Val Mignonia, who is also the committee's chairman, said he feels FOIA Buddy shouldn't be allowed to "make a business out of a loophole." He suggested writing a letter to local legislators to address the situation.

"I just don't want to continue to sit around and let this happen and everybody be cool with it," Mignonia said. "People just continue to ignore stuff and let it go."

According to Pennsylvania Office of Open Records Executive Director Liz Wagenseller, there is nothing in the state law that prohibits organizations from making a Right-to-Know request on behalf of another person or charging a fee for tools or forms.

The best example of that is whenever an attorney makes a request on behalf of a client, she said.

The Office of Open Records has confirmed that FOIA Buddy is operated by people who have a stated goal of efficiently promoting government transparency and accountability in a cost-effective manner, Wagenseller said, adding there is no indication that FOIA Buddy is part of any phishing or scamming activities.

Wagenseller said regardless of who requests the records, the same legal standard applies. "The focus is not on who makes the request but on whether the records are public," she said.

Some requests denied

Altoona Area Superintendent Brad Hatch, who's the district's open records officer, said there were some requests the district did not grant because the file FOIA Buddy requested did not exist, which is one of the legal exceptions.

If a petitioner appealed the denial, the district would have to involve its legal council -- Beard Legal Group -- to answer the appeal, which would be costly for the district's taxpayers, Hatch said.

Wagenseller said the Office of Open Records dismisses anonymous appeals.

Hatch said there are times when Altoona Area has fulfilled requests partially. But most of the time, the district sends all of the information requested, he said.

Tyrone Area's Right-to-Know officer Faith Swanson said the district did not deny any of the 24 requests received from FOIA Buddy.

"But we did request the 30-day extension given the amount of time needed to collate the information," Swanson said, adding the district's full response included about 500 pages that were scanned and sent to the requestor.

Other school districts, like Cambria Heights and Central Cambria, have said they have not received as many requests from the organization.

Cambria Heights open records officer Stephanie Renninger said the district has only received one request from FOIA Buddy, which was for a list of personnel who work at the district.

Central Cambria Superintendent Jason Moore said the district tries to operate with as much transparency as possible. Right-to-Know requests are just part of its normal operation, he said.

Moore said the last round of requests the district received from FOIA Buddy was for broadband and phone network contracts.

Moore said the district isn't necessarily overwhelmed by Right-to-Know requests, but it is a challenge when they receive them in large quantities.

The district's budget is "very tight" since the school board had to cut over $1 million from the annual budget because of commercial tax appeals, Moore said, adding Central Cambria didn't benefit much from the state's education budget and new adequacy formula.

"We don't have additional staff to fulfill requests," he said. "I would just hope that requests are made in good faith and not just with the goal of being burdensome."

FOIA Buddy's mission

The Mirror reached out to FOIA Buddy via the organization's Facebook page. An unnamed representative of the organization returned the message and left a voicemail stating its mission is to simplify the process of filing Right-to-Know requests using artificial intelligence.

The voicemail stated the organization could potentially help schools save money by showing a list of every vendor each district uses to purchase supplies and their associated costs.

"The goal is, at the end of the day, to save taxpayers' money," the voicemail said. "It may be nagging for them to have to get this information together. But we're really positive that the end product, once we get there, is going to help everybody."

When the Mirror asked who left the voicemail message and how many people operate FOIA Buddy, the organization's Facebook page replied, "The rest of the information is private, but thank you for asking."

FOIA Buddy co-founder Frank Curry later reached out to the Mirror and identified the man who left the voicemail as his business partner Bob Lesher. Lesher and Curry are co-founders of FOIA Buddy and run the organization, Curry said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.